Preparation for Finals

I have finished my clinical rotation for this semester.  Even though I appreciated the opportunities to “being with” the clients and practice my therapeutic communication with them, finishing my clinical makes me more grateful the amount of the time I can sleep, which means no more getting up 4 am in the morning at least for a while. 

However, as finals are approaching, I understand lots of people start to stress out, and ME TOO!! I am not here to tell you how stressed I can get but to share my strategies of getting ready for finals.   

1. Listing specific study plan

        Throughout my academic path, I realized that I am easily distracted when I don’t make plan before diving into my study pool. When I say distraction, I am referring to other assignment popped into my head when I am working on one specific assignment, and I get stressed out so I ended up not finishing up my assignment.

To fix that problem, I usually list deadlines for all my assignments and exam, and I prioritize my to-do list. On top of that, I write down a study plan, or schedule. For example, instead of putting down “study biology” in my list, I put “study biology from p145 to p155” for 20 minutes. The reason behind it is to be more efficient with the time that I invest. Believe it or not, I could spend one hour reading 5 pages, and I still couldn’t comprehend the content at the end, which definitely increases my stress level. so DON’T do what I did. 

      2. Maintain sufficient sleep and rest

In the last week of my nursing competency I, we have talked about “Sleep and Rest”. Therefore, I want to emphasize the importance and benefit of sleep and rest.  In my perspective,  maintaining sufficient sleep is a key to efficiency. Sleep deprivation highly impacts on cognitive function like memory, concentration and mood. In my experience, I used to stay up out of guilt even though I knew I wouldn’t be efficient. I ended up being drained physically and mentally, and I wouldn’t be able to focus for the whole day. My main point is to sleep well, and study better. Your bed is your best friend. 

3. Relaxation

Lastly, it is important to take time to relax. What I had done on the Sunday before dead week started was to attend a yoga class and to watch a movie with my roommate. We tried out samdhana-karana yoga class, and they offer a few sessions of free yoga class. After a day of relaxing, I do feel that I am ready to embrace finals.  

Speaking of yoga, I have found a yoga exercise that requires no yoga mat, and you can do it anywhere you want!  Practice your laugh yoga

Camille