I have finals until May 15–which is sad because (1) I hate studying, and (2) I hate being forced to put my Xanga aside in order to study. Priorities, my ass. Making me take a final exam is a waste time for everyone involved, i.e., I am going to be wasting three hours per exam typing up nonsense babble, while my professors will inevitably be stuck reading my nonsense babble.

Not that I haven’t attempted to change my ways this semester. I actually had about a week before my first final, and I planned to make proper use of it for once by, you know, studying.

But the same thing that happens every semester happened again:

Finals

Finals2

Do any of you have suggestions on how to study properly? So far, the only idea I’ve come up with is entering the Finals period with no intention of studying at all. I’m thinking that might scare me into staying awake when I review my notes because, right now, pre-planning productivity is just not cutting it.

P.S. Even though I may fail all of my finals–at least I’m not Manny Ramirez! Bwahahaha!

33 thoughts on “

  1. Get a giant poster and write a blown-up version of a cheat sheet with everything you should know. Then hang it in your bathroom across from the toilet. I call it the art of studying without studying. But really, I used to write everything down, and then I’d go through a series of blocks of stuff to memorize and then I’d go back and see if I forgot anything in the series before moving on to the next series. Sometimes I made up stupid rhymes. I’d take a long break and then I’d start it all again.I seemed to remember more with shorter, frequent cram sessions than one with a few long study sessions.

  2. I don’t know. I really hope someone has an answer.  Usually my finals week ends up being something like a party since I get to the point where anything seems better and that I’m not going to learn any more.  Relax and sleep like normal- worked so far for me.

  3. I could never study the same thing over the course of several days. I can’t retain information like that. Instead, I would drink a lot of caffeine and study one subject for several hours.

  4.  Other than staying up til 5 the morning before the final-the pressure forces intense concentration, the time constraint not even leaving room for thinking of procrastination or distraction….but getting no sleep the day before an exam is probably a bad idea. 

  5. Replace law with engineering, you with me, and you have the story of my college life. Sigh..oh the memories….. What I usually had to do was live off of no-doz and coffee and cram like mad the night before finals. I don’t think I ever wen’t to bed early because I had already studied everything I needed to know. My arch enemy was procrastination. Curse you procrastination!!Oh, and I thing Manny was reported to have said something like “At least I’m not stuck studying for finals like AA64….I just failed my test and got it over with……Bwahahaa!” Btw……..very nice (you know what I mean).

  6. Dennys is a great place to study all night. free coffee refills, enough public so that you cant sleep, and quiet enough to actually study, if not you can always take your own music.

  7. sleep all day b/c that’s when ppl are up and can distract you.  study all night w/ 5-hr energy bottles. and print out outlines and notes so u can shut OFF your computer!  :p

  8. just suck it up, and place yourself in a clean isolated place to study. Get into the mind set that you have no life and nothing matters anymore just studying… force yourself into it.

  9. I’m terrible at studying too, so I’ve adopted a sure-fire plan: don’t study.  It’s worked out well for me so far.  I just learn things the first time through, and maybe do some light reviewing a day or two before my final.  My score tends to be on par with what I’ve been getting in the class up to that point, and since I usually have a B or A, I’m fine with that.  My only other preparations are to sleep well the night before, and eat well the morning of.If you really want to study, the only way I’ve been able to devote time solely to studying is to help someone else.  Someone who isn’t as smart as me, but isn’t a total moron either.  They ask questions, I tell them answers.  If I don’t know the answer, I find it.  Since they’re not a moron, I don’t get frustrated, and since they’re already smartish, it doesn’t take all day.

  10. i read a lot on the can. so maybe you can load up on metamucil and scented candles and hang out in your bathroom a few hours a day.i also read a lot during my commute to work. perhaps you can get a bus pass and just ride the local transit system around town.or kill two birds with one stone.  blog about the material you have to cover for finals. those are gonna be some boring ass blogs.

  11. It was always easier for me to either go to the Library, or study with someone in the same class as me. We would go over notes and write out an outline of material to study. By writing everything out, you in essence will remember more because you are writing it out – thus “studying” when you didn’t even realize you were studying.Also, music helps. Seriously. I remembered so much more about a topic because I just thought of the song and then all this info popped into my head. Try it.Did I just confuse you? I hope not. Good luck.

  12. I always study with music. It kind of helps with 1. keeping me awake and 2. giving me a pace to study at. Also, find a designated studying place. When I was in undergrad, studying at the library never worked for me. I would get too distracted seeing all the people I knew. I studied best at the kitchen table in my apartment. I still always study at my kitchen table now that I’m in grad school.Good luck to you!

  13. Are you talking motivation or study techniques? As for motivation – fear, pure and simple, tends to do it for me (who says a cold sweat isn’t motivating…) Study techniques… find what works for you, but mostly in my case it’s repetition, repetition, repetition… index cards, writing stuff out again and again, just drill it into your brain until you’re so sick of it all you think you’re going to vomit it up… and hopefully you will regurgitate the information into the exam!

  14. outline your whole syllabus, make a feasible routine- start with setting smaller goals if you have adequate time….this works for me. I feel more  organized and it makes me feel the whole thing can END somewhere, otherwise I feel scattered and feel the whole thing is all over and outta control.Now that reminds me how much I need to study for my gmat and other job exams 😦

  15. I guess I’m the last person that should give anyone advice, as I am checking out all your xanga posts instead of studying for tomorrow’s final…BUT: Best advice is to never do an all-nighter, get plenty of sleep, eat an egg for breakfast, and make sure there’s a 6- 10 hour window MAX from the time you woke up till the exam. HAHAHAHAH. That’s cuz if you’re awake for too long or not long enough, brain is tired. 

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