How to Make the Perfect Study Plan for Finals Week

Finals week can be a hectic time — but it doesn’t have to be.

6 exams in one week is honestly a nightmare, especially when your GPA or grad-school acceptance is hanging in the balance. Although doing well on the exams is definitely the main priority, feeling healthy, organized, and prepared is also extremely important.

But once you have a time management system in place, a solid study schedule, and a plan to keep yourself healthy, finals week will be a breeze!

Say goodbye to the sleep-deprived and burnt out finals week student you once were, and hello to the confident, prepared, and well-showered student you’ll become!

Understanding Your Finals Schedule

First things first: figure out what the situation is with each of your finals. Is it online? Is it proctored? How long is the exam? What topics are covered? Is it cumulative? Is it open-ended or multiple choice? Is it an essay?

If you need help planning your final paper, I got you. Check out my post “How to Write an A+ Essay Every Time” for a breakdown on how to write essays quickly and well!

Make sure you understand what to expect from each exam because this will affect how you study. This will also help to keep you calm on test day because there won’t be any surprises.

Pay special attention to the place (if they aren’t online) and the time of each final!

Managing Your Time

Make a Timetable

Once you have an idea of how your finals week is laid out, it’s time to make a plan. You can do this on a piece of paper, in a journal, on a Google Spreadsheet (my personal favorite), or whatever works for you!

First, make a timetable with the time range that you expect to be studying.

If your exams are at a specific time, make sure that you enter them in the appropriate spot. Due to COVID, all my exams were asynchronous, so I put them above my timetable so I could still see what was due, without it being at a specific time.

I’ll talk more about this later, but make sure to have a realistic cut off time where you’re done for the day, and EAT FOOD! Your brain needs fuel, so make sure you have mealtimes scheduled!

Break Down Your Tasks

Okay so now we have a good framework for our finals week! Now we can fill in the blanks with some tasks.

First, let’s start general. What units are on the exam? Once you get an idea of what needs to be accomplished, break it down into steps.

Make Smart Goals

Remember these should be SMART goals (yes, it’s cheesy, but it works). These tasks should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-sensitive.

• Specific: Avoid general tasks like “study chapter 3” because you’ll end up feeling overwhelmed and confused about what to do. Instead, give yourself a set of practice problems to do or a specific set of flashcards to review. Your tasks should tell you exactly what to do.
• Measurable: You should clearly know when you’ve finished a task. If you have to finish 20 questions, you’ll know for sure that you’re done when you’ve finished all 20.
• Achievable: Know your limits and don’t set goals that you’ll never be able to achieve. If the homework normally takes you 3 hours, don’t give yourself 1 hour to review the questions. Not only will this burn you out, but it’ll seriously discourage you when you don’t accomplish these crazy goals.
• Relevant: Don’t set goals that aren’t directly necessary for your final! If your final is on module 3, don’t waste time going over module 1 or 2. This is why it was important to understand what content is on our finals.
• Time Sensitive: Give yourself time limits. Tasks will expand to fill the time you give them. If you know you only have an hour for a task, you’ll work more diligently to finish the task within the time!

So, breakdown the tasks for each final into some SMART goals!

Fill in the Blanks

Now that you have all your tasks, you can put them into your timetable!

Like we talked about before, be realistic with your times. Give yourself enough time to do each task, and make sure that it’s possible to fit it all in one day!

Real talk, sometimes there’s just too much to get done and less important things get removed from the list. It’s more important for you to focus your time on tasks that will have the biggest impact on your preparation.

Here’s what you should end up with!

If you want a really detailed time management breakdown, I have a post about how to manage your time throughout your semester, so check that out!

Having a Proper Study Technique

The most important thing when studying for finals is to always use active recall. Practice problems and explaining concepts to friends will serve you much better than re-reading the chapters over and over again.

If you want more explanation of passive vs active studying techniques, I have a whole post about study techniques here!

Staying Healthy

That last — but certainly not the least — tip for mastering your finals week is to make sure you stay physically and mentally healthy.

Make sure that your schedule includes times to eat food, at least 7 hours of sleep each night, and a bit of exercise. Also, make sure that you are drinking enough water and bathing (you know who you are 👀).

Taking breaks every couple of hours will keep you from burning out, and you’ll be more focused when you come back! My favorite finals week break activities include taking walks, taking naps (usually in public places lol), and doing yoga.

Also, try not to stress yourself out too much. Finals can be a lot of pressure, but remember that you are smart, competent, and too grand to be defined by a grade! Even if you do badly on your exam, it’s okay! Life goes on and so will you.

Conclusion

By creating an effective study plan for finals, you can feel calmer and prepared for your exams! It’s such a good feeling to walk into an exam knowing that you prepared the best that you could. Plus, by managing your time this way, you can also save yourself from getting burnt out by the end of the week.

Happy finals season!