7 Tips for End of Semester Stress
You have done it, you have made it through midterms and now the finals are in sight! The pressure is high and your energy is starting to run low. How then can you ensure that you are able to finish your term with as much energy and motivation as you started it with? When do you ask for help, and what kind of help might be available to you?
Though the stress and pressures of a term are predictable, they are no less challenging. Just because we know a marathon is 26.2 miles does not make those final miles any easier for us. The end is challenging and it can be tempting to tell ourselves that, “I knew this was coming, what did I expect?” While saying such things to ourselves is understandable it often is not very helpful. It is important for us to find ways to structure our time so that we are able to finish as strong as we can. Following are 7 tips to help you finish your term as strongly as you can.
You need to sleep! When engaged in learning getting a full night of sleep, meaning at a minimum seven hours, is of the upmost importance. Also, recall that you do not fall asleep the moment your head hits the pillow, you will need time to unwind from the day and to fall asleep. Give yourself at least 30 extra minuets for falling asleep. If you try to skimp on sleep your learning and memory will be negatively impacted. If the goal for the end of the term is to finish well, getting sufficient sleep is one of the most important steps you can take.
Plan for problems. When creating time plans we all want to imagine that things will go without issue. If you get sick, or have an accident and you fall behind it can feel impossible to catch up. Plan that there might be problems. If you think a project can be finished in three days give yourself five. This way if you get sick, the project is more difficult than expected, or other situations arise, you have a buffer in your plan to help you overcome the challenge.
Have down time. It can seem impossible to allow yourself an hour or two of downtime, yet our unstructured time is vital to our ability to continue to engage with all we need for learning and success. Give yourself at least an hour a day for downtime, and try to take at least one night off a week to spend time with friends or engaging in activities that recharge your batteries.
Use your resources. There are many resources available to us, such as office hours, peer tutors, and others. Use the resources that are available to you. Even if you do not have specific questions going to office hours and asking for feedback or other suggestions can be helpful. Also, if you have gotten into the habit of talking with your professor or TA when you don’t need to it makes asking for help when needed much easier than it would be had you never spoken to them before.
Keep a schedule. Learning how to structure your own time is a skill that can be difficult to master, yet well worth the effort. When we have all the time in the world to do something we tend not to get it done. When we only have a limited amount of time this added pressure can help to keep us focus and motivated to get the work done. Having a stopping point is important. If you feel as though the task will never end no matter what you do it can be highly demotivating. Give yourself clear start and stop times for your projects.
Create dedicated places. Having separate spaces to work, study, and play are important. We want to ensure that we are able to teach ourselves what spaces are for work and what spaces are for play. The psychological term for this is state dependent learning. It’s a big term to indicate that our brain is good at identifying what state it needs to be in using environmental cues. If you are in a room with a TV and holding a video console controller it is time for play, if you are at a desk looking at your monitor it is time for work, sitting in the library with your notes, time to study. Creating these separate environments can help set your brain up for success. Pro tip, if you are able do homework or studying in the room in which you take the class or will be taking the test this helps your brain associate that specific material with that physical location!
Manage your time. Time is your most precious and valuable resource. No matter what you do you cannot get more of it. Look at the time you have each week, as your schedule likely changes from day to day too much to create a routine that stays the same from day to day. The time budget is so important the following will focus solely on this topic.
Create a time Budget
Learning how to manage, or budget, your time can be one of the most helpful skills that you can have at your disposal. Time budges allow us to have a better understanding of how much time we have to give to different tasks and help us create reasonable expectations for our day to day activities. A time budget is often something that shifts depending on where you are in the term. Early in the term it might be easy to give hours to a hobby or socializing, while at the end of the term more time might need to go into studying.
With a time budget look at your week, not just your day. Calculate how many hours you need for sleep (ideally at least 56 per week), how many hours you are in class, how many hours working, and so on. Once you have an idea of how many hours you have left in a week put in how much of that time you want to spend on tasks such as studying, being active, socializing, and hobbies. Leave a few hours every week that are unaccounted for as some tasks will take longer than expected and others might go by faster.
Use the following as a sample time budget:
If when you get to the end of your time budget and you realize you physically cannot do all that you need see what if anything can be removed. You might have to quit your job, or take fewer shifts so that you can get your work done. If you feel as though you cannot cut out anything further perhaps it is time to ask for help. Take your time budget to your professors and show them the challenges you are facing. If they can see that you are being intentional with your time and taking accountability they might be more willing to offer extensions or other aids.
Therapy too can help during the end of the year. A therapist can help you go through a time budget and help you plan for how to get all the things you need done accomplished by the end of the term. Therapy can also help you with learning how to communicate challenges you are having with others. Your school’s counseling office likely has therapists on hand that can help or can help you find providers that can help meet your specific needs.