Finals Countdown

• Find out day, time, and "nature" of all finals.
• Target all the accumulated information that is "fair game" for the exams.
• Divide the information into manageable "chunks." (This is a note set with additional book information, or what you would study at one sitting: 60-90 minutes.)

Strategies for Success in Using the Break Wisely:

1. Take home materials for any 5-hour and/or any comprehensive finals
2. Take home materials for which you are making a C or lower
3. Take home materials that are for prerequisite classes for your major/required courses.
4. Take home courses that future employers may review.

Boundary Setting Is Essential:

• Let your family and friends know that since you have a long 9 days off, you have to keep up with certain classes, for you need to maintain a certain momentum, and your review will aid retention of the material.
• You may need to set specific times to be by yourself to study, whether it's at home or somewhere else like the city library.
• Set and meet specific learning goals for each course.
• Give yourself short quizzes at the end of each study session to ensure that you are making progress and learning new material.

Reality Bites:

• There are only 10 days of class and one weekend before "Reading Day." Time will fly!
• Try to return to school early on the day before school resumes (Sunday 11/25) or sooner so you can get back into your school "routine."
• If you decide to extend your vacation and miss classes on Monday the 26th or even the 28th, you will start to panic. Don't do that to yourself! You have to gear up for finals!

• Go through all notes: predict and write questions to study until you can answer them from memory.
• Study to answer questions, not just to reread your notes. Blend "rehearsal" and "retrieval"-type study.
  • Rehearsal is reading, saying and writing the information repeatedly.
  • Retrieval is recalling it without looking at your notes or book. The absolute best way to check your ownership of the information is to write it from memory. Cycle back and forth between the two kinds of study. Do not spend all your time on rehearsal.
• Find others to work with. Ask each other hard questions. Don't be kind; be competitive.
• Predict the test as much as possible. Design a practice test if possible.

• Same as above, but begin to add newly acquired information to your study.
• Review older information while you rehearse the new.

• The best study is short, intense, but frequent (more than once a day).
• You should be studying no totally "new" information during finals week. You'll get test anxiety; you'll freak out.