‘Tis the season to close yourself in the library and pray for your last exam to be over. Finals are upon us and for many freshmen, it’s a whole new territory.
There are many secrets to acing finals and escaping the semester unscathed. Many tricks of the trade are obvious, but I decided to highlight five lesser-known secrets to make finals a bit friendlier.
1. Study Monday is not another Sunday
It is very tempting to treat the Sunday before finals as another excuse to cut loose, because after all, you have all Monday to study. Do not give into that idea.
Late nights on Sunday translate into waking up late on Monday and missing prime study time. The whole weekend does not need to be spent hunched over a book, but take advantage of an extra day of studying.
2. Sign up for a study room early
Group projects rarely get accomplished sitting around a living room with the television playing in the background. Sure, it may be tempting to work on an accounting project while ABC Family’s “25 Days of Christmas” plays in the background, but it won’t lead to anything productive.
Commandeering a study room in the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library is a group’s best bet to ace a presentation. It is hard to procrastinate in a windowless cubicle in the library.
Study rooms go fast, especially during finals, so sign up on the room door as early as possible. Blocking out a three-hour time slot in a study room provides a location for group members to meet.
3. Late-night breakfast is essential
Most college students will attest to their diet taking a nosedive during finals week. Late-night study sessions are often fueled by obscene amounts of caffeine and handfuls of candy.
The late-night breakfast provides an opportunity for a study break and food that does not come in a package. The breakfast starts at 10 p.m. and is in the Murray-Herrick cafeteria.
The meal is open to everyone, so take a break from cramming for your theology test and grab a snack. If that is not incentive enough, I am sure there will be free coffee as well.
4. Relax with the Wellness Center spa day
Sanity flies out the window during finals week. Sleep becomes a luxury and stress migraines are a possibility. If a massage sounds like a great idea, there is a place on campus to get one.
The Wellness Center will hold a Finals Stress Spa for students from noon to 3 p.m. Monday, Dec. 13, in the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library leather room.
Students can get free chair massages, eat snacks, do yoga and color. The event is held in the library, so there is little excuse not to take advantage of the opportunity.
5. Solitude of the Minneapolis Campus
During finals week, trying to find a small section of the library to call your own is near impossible. Every table is usually full by the early afternoon, leaving many students searching for a place to study.
The Minneapolis Campus is my study secret. The Charles J. Keffer library provides plenty of space to sprawl out and crack open the books. The campus is a shuttle ride away and offers a quiet space with less traffic.
Most students are trying to burn through their meal plans the last week of the semester. Food for Thought on the Minneapolis campus is a great way to spend two meals on a meal plan at once.
Gina Dolski can be reached at grdolski@stthomas.edu.