Preventing Burnout During College Finals

GET ENOUGH SLEEP It is important to have enough sleep before finals week. It is recommended that you get at least seven to nine hours of sleep each night during the time leading up to exams. Sleep helps your brain to remember the information taught throughout the semester. It also helps you to feel more alert and focused. Sleep deprivation can have negative effects on your mood, concentration, and memory. HAVE A SCHEDULE Creating a plan will help you to get organized and ready for the upcoming finals. You should split your schedule into manageable chunks of time that are relevant to each subject. This will also ensure that you have a consistent schedule leading up to final exams week so that you don’t feel overwhelmed with all of the work at once. Creating a daily, weekly and even monthly schedule can help students manage their time effectively throughout finals week. For example, if you know that on Monday night you will be revising until midnight at least three times during this week, make an effort to get all other tasks completed beforehand (e.g., laundry) so that once it comes around there isn’t anything else preventing you from reading as efficiently as possible for final exams. A proper schedule focuses on the best time to read; which is when you feel most alert. This can be either first thing in the morning, after a short breather, or late at night before bed. You should pick one that works well for your schedule and stick with it so that you aren’t scrambling around trying to find time to read. MAKE SURE NOT TO OVERWORK YOURSELF It is important to know your limits and how much you can handle them. By overworking yourself, it may lead to burnout which will make preparations for finals even more difficult than they already are. If there’s too much work on your plate, consider whether or not the majority of these tasks need to be completed by you. Take a break off from reading to relax and give your brain a rest before final exams week comes around. This will help you to be refreshed for when it’s time to go back into the books again once finals have begun.