It's Finals Week!--Let's Help Each Other

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This is the Saturday before my profs begin giving finals.

As I have mentioned before, I am a very unmotivated student at the moment, and having depression does not help.

What I want people to post here are any quick-and-dirty strategies that they can use for studying... whether they're gimmicks or tips you can use all your life; whether they're for first graders or college students; post them here. You parents, too--if there's something that helps your child, please post it here. I may be a college student, but first-grade-level things have been known to work for me... see the "timer" idea below... so nothing is too infantile or simple. Think of it as brainstorming.

At this point, I am quite far behind, and am hoping simply for passing grades; and I will try anything which seems like it might work.

Hopefully such a list of study strategies might also help others who are taking finals at the same time I'm taking them; since most K-12th grade schools have finals a month or more after today, there might be quite a list by then (if I get cooperation).

I'm going to start off with some of my ideas:

Clear off your desk completely before studying. This gives you extra room to work and reduces distractions.
Drink a moderate amount of coffee; caffeine increases alertness. Beware: Too much will simply make you jittery.
Find something to "fiddle" with while you study--Silly Putty, your pen, a snack... For me, this decreases the need to rock or tap my foot, both of which move my body and desk to the extent that it disturbs my studying.
Use a timer: Ten minutes of study, five minutes of break (Adjust intervals to taste).
Eat enough so that you don't feel hungry, but not too much (this diverts energy away from the brain, to the digestive system).
Make a to-do list, schedule, or other organizing tool... then stop thinking about all you have to do and concentrate on the next problem.
Actually use the ideas you think of, rather than saying "forget it" and just doing something you want to do.
And, whatever you do... don't even get STARTED on doing something associated with one of your obsessions. Generally, homework seems quite unimportant when you are in the middle of something like that!

Scheiss, I know how you feel. 17 years, practically, of non-stop education, from primary school to uni.

Try using signposts (like mnemonics) to help you remember.

Still, Health Sciences is a damn sight easier than Physics. I should know. My first semester at QUT was part of an Astrophysics degree. Three factors. One: I was lazy. Two, I was unprepared for the nature of uni study. Three, I deal better with abstract concepts than mathematics. I can do a physics thought experiment easily, but the math?

God, it makes me sick, math. Sorry if I offend any potential Erdoses. (How in the world can you make a plural of Erdos?)

If you are being given an open book/open note test (don't let that fool you, you still need to study), the best thing you can do is to take anything from your notes and book that is important (ie formulas, mneumonics, etc.) and put them on a sheet of paper to be put into the first page of your notes or at the beginning of your book. This will help you find that stuff quite a bit faster during the test and you will be secretely studying.

If you know anyone from your class, a "study session" is a good excuse to invite them over. If you like a girl in your class, this is probably your last chance to get her interested in doing stuff with you during the summer.

Also, as callista pointed out, keep your study area clean; it will cause you to be less stressed and you'll be less likely to lose stuff.

I'm taking my IB exams starting tomorrow. Yeah, of course I've studied, but I'm still extremely nervous. I've been gearing up to this for four years and I can't believe it's finally happening. Three or four or maybe five hours in which to show I know a subject or to screw up completely.

But some of us can't study if things are too clean. Find out what works for you. If that's having everything very clean, clean up. If that's having papers, textbooks, art projects, etc in an apparent jumbled mess to any outside observer, by all means, go ahead and do that!

Some people don't do well with too much caffeine. Drinking cold water (NOT room temperature) helps keep people awake most of the time. Also, dark chocolate is very friendly in a study atmosphere.

Good pointer about the "fiddling" with something. For me, one of the squishable, art erasers (for charcoal pencils and other pencil work) is what I normally use. Very nice and it serves a dual purpose for anyone who likes to draw.

Study the difficult stuff first. This will get the hard, unlikeable stuff over and done with early on. Then you can focus on the fun stuff or the stuff that you like more and is easier.

Don't procrastinate until the last minute. I made the mistake of doing this for a physics project, then was hardly functional when trying to take one of my exams the next day.

Get a good night sleep and eat healthy foods. This should be self-explanatory enough.

Oh, and don't stress out. Really. Put some music on that you like (if you can function and concentrate with background music). I had a math teacher who would put on instrumental music while we did homework in class and that helped most people study (usually LotR or PotC soundtracks!).