Rebecca Rue
Staff Writer

*Sending advice your way to deal with your dates, deadlines, and dorm mates every week*

Dear Becca,

I have been doing my best to keep up with all of the work I need to finish by the end of the semester, but it hasn’t been easy. As finals week looms ever closer I find myself feeling completely overwhelmed. Do you have any advice for how to handle all of this?

Sincerely,
Doomed and Desperate

Dear Doomed and Desperate,

I can say with relative confidence that almost all of us are feeling the same level of stress that you are currently experiencing. As a fellow student, I understand and support you.

As I am sure you have heard before, your best friend right now is organization. What assignment do you have due when? Which classes do you have to worry about a final exam or a paper, or both?

Another tactic to keep in mind is to figure out when all of your final exams are next week if you have not already. This will help you prioritize your study time.

Next, how do you study? Are you better off alone, or with a group of friends? In complete silence or with some background noise like music or other people?

The best thing that you can do for yourself is to create the best possible environment that you will get the most amount of work done.

If you know that your room is filled with distractions that will tempt you into wasting time like your television, avoid being there and take yourself to one of the study areas in any of the buildings or the library.

Even if you usually work alone, I would consider getting a study group together and work with them on top of your private study time.

Have you made any friends in your class? If you have but you don’t have their contact information, you can use D2L to message them.

Sign onto your D2L account, go into your class information, and click on the communication tab. Under the tab, you will find the classlist. From there, you can find your friends and start to organize a group get together that fits everyone’s schedule.

Even if you have never used a study group before I really recommend it, especially if you have a lot of information to go over.

One advantage of this is that you can all split up the material between you and each make a study guide of your particular assignment. Then when you get together, you have guides that combined cover all of the class material.

Another advantage is that you never know what you can learn from someone else’s perspective.

They might have understood something that you didn’t and can help you, or they might have opinions that help contribute to and broaden your knowledge on the topic.

Lastly, it is fun to be with a group when you take a small study break.

These are the people that understand exactly what you are going through in your class, and for that reason they can really help you get through it all.

However you decide to go about surviving the last week, just remember that is all that is left. Just a week. This time will fly by really fast, and before you know it summer will be here.

Good luck, I have faith that you will do well. And have a great summer!

Email Becca At:
rrue@live.esu.edu