How to make yourself study for finals

This week, I will complete my eighth and ultimate finals week of my college career. Over the course of the last four years, I’ve learned a few strategies that help me study effectively. Here are a few tips that you may find helpful:

1.  Entrapment– for those of us who like procrastinating, hate studying, or just prefer talking about what we need to be doing instead of doing it, it’s important to trap yourself into studying. You’ll need a subtle, long-term plan to sneak up on yourself.

Normally, I like to wait until I am a) hungry or b) caffeine-deprived. First, incentivize leaving campus by thinking of the delicious latte/scone/piece of cake you could have at a favorite off-campus studying spot. Pack some studying materials for later; focus on the excitement of the treat. If possible, bring things to study that won’t require you to bring a laptop. Hopefully your phone has already worked through a significant portion of its battery life for the day.  Don’t use your car charger and don’t bring a charger with you. You arrive at the coffee shop, get your treat, and set up at a table. Suddenly, you’re trapped in a studying environment away from your friends, without a laptop, and a phone low enough on battery to discourage frivolous use. Plus, you’ll look ridiculous walking in with a large backpack and leaving immediately after finishing your food. You’ve entrapped yourself into studying. Congratulations.

2.  Airplane Mode- do you know where the airplane mode button is on your laptop? If not, find it. Right now. Airplane mode is your best weapon against your frighteningly frequent impulse to get off task when you’re working on your laptop. Most of us check Facebook, Twitter, or our email frequently enough to do so with little to no conscious decision-making. I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve been working on a paper and subconsciously switched to a browser window to check a social website without even thinking. If your laptop is in airplane mode, your internet connection will be disabled, giving you an error message each time you do this. This brief anomaly makes getting off task something you have to actively choose. The only downside of this strategy is that it’s truly terrifying how often you subconsciously check these websites. Prepare to be appalled at yourself.

 3.  Vary types of studying- one way to feel like you’re taking a study break when you aren’t is to scatter your easier types of studying between chunks of more taxing projects. For instance, say you have to complete a take-home advanced logic final, performing soul-crushing predicate calculus with identity. Well, doesn’t that make reading the Foreign Affairs articles you’ve been assigned sound like a treat? Doing one type of work like reading, writing, or completing proofs for too long is unnecessarily miserable. Find your maximum tolerance level for any one type and plan to switch projects as often as necessary. You’ll perform the same amount of work without ever wallowing in one awful assignment.

As you may have noticed, by tips, I really mean intricate mind games to play with yourself. Now, stop reading articles about studying on the internet, and go do it!