Finals week is here and there’s only one thing to do: study. Study as much as you can, to learn, re-learn and review everything in preparation for a test that could possibly define your future. No pressure, right? Wrong. Often finals can be overwhelming and stressful, so ‘tis the season for useful finals study tips.
Study tip number one: organizing your notes for maximum use
First, lay out all of your notes to see what you have. Just glancing at them will help jog your memory of things you learned a long time ago. A simple way of reminding yourself of what you’ve already learned and what you need to brush up on!
After you’ve laid out all of your notes in front of you, begin to organize the chronologically. Or by category, whatever works best for you. For classes such as history and math, chronological order will probably be best. History happens in order, and the skills you learn in math build on each other. But for classes like English and science, usually no particular order is necessary. Organizing them by subject is easier, you don’t have to remember the order in which they were taught.
After your notes are all in order the way that will be help you study, its time to begin studying.
Study tip number two: rewrite old notes
It’s so easy to forget a lesson that was taught in August or September, along with the little details that may have been taught recently, so what has always helped me is to rewrite my notes. Yes, it’s time consuming but it’s worth it! Reading the notes over and writing them out a second time is like relearning things you’ve forgotten twice. The motion of reading and writing the notes again allows you to absorb the notes in more than one way, there for helping you study.
Study tip number three: note cards
My history teacher from freshman year liked to make history simple, so the base of each unit was vocab. We would spend a day or two just writing out vocab and from there start our lessons. There were often 40 or 50 vocabulary words, but they were easy and helpful. Rather than giving us crazy study guides that are overwhelming for tests and finals, he would tell us to study our vocab, but in a specific way.
Take all of your note cards and begin to study from them. Look at the word or definition and either define it or say what the word is. But, when you get a word wrong, put it at the back of the deck. If you get a card right, put it on the table or wherever you are working. To finish the stack you have to have gotten every card right. Use that method until you can go through the stack three times without making a mistake. Often it can be time consuming, but by the time you get through three times you will know the words like the back of your hand.
 
Study tip number four: the internet is a powerful tool
Getting on the internet can often be dangerous because its so easy to get on Pinterest and be on it for hours, but with some effort its not too hard to stay on track and study.
Websites like Quizlet that have flashcards for hundreds of different classes that help you study. 
Youtube is also a powerful source for knowledge, John and Hank Green offer crash courses on history and science that are easy go-to videos when in need of help. The Green brothers may be popular among the educational YouTube realm, but they’re not the only ones. History Channel and other television channels produce their own videos on wide varieties of topics.
Study tip number five: silence isn’t always golden
Studying in utter silence is hard, it’s easy for your mind to wander and before you know if you’re thinking about that one time in fifth grade when you tripped down the stairs rather than studying for the final that you have tomorrow.
An easy way to break the silence and keep yourself on track is to play music in the background.
When selecting the music to listen to be tactful about it. Playing loud or disruptive music won’t heal you accomplish anything except maybe a good jam session. Songs I include on my study playlist are songs I enjoy, but won’t stop what I’m doing to listen to and put me in a positive mindset.
It would be hard say what is good to listen to and what’s not good to listen to because everyone has genres they like or dislike, but this is my personal study playlist. Another option is to listen to the ‘Classical for studying’ playlist on Pandora. Classical music isn’t for everyone, but it definitely helps to stay focused and alert while studying.

• Lost Stars by Adam Levine
• Arms by Christina Perri
• Daisy by Switchfoot
• Rip Tide by Vance Joy
• Sweater Weather by The Neighbors
• Fix You by Coldplay
• Hey There Delilah by The Plain White T’s
• I’m Yours by Jason Mraz

I hope my tips will be able to help you tackle finals week and come out with good grades and little to no white hairs. Remember to take breaks every 30 minutes or so and relax a little, being stressed is to going to help you study or retain any knowledge. And if you’re having trouble trying to stay positive just remember that Christmas is next week, or if you don’t celebrate Christmas or any other religious holidays, you at least get a week off of school.
By Ashley Tanner