At this point in the school year, many students can feel the year coming to a close. With the end of the year, one thing everyone experiences are important tests, such as finals or EOCs. Sometimes it can be hard to find motivation to properly prepare for these tests so late in the year, especially if students don’t know where to start or what kind of studying works for them.

One tip for studying for finals is to not cram the night before. This can make stress or anxiety about the test much worse by putting pressure on oneself to memorize all the information in one night. It can also be helpful to study with a classmate or friend. This can help by talking about the topics to better comprehend the information. But this doesn’t work for everyone, especially if students are unable to stay on topic.

Studying alone is better for some students but that doesn’t mean there aren’t distractions. One big distraction when studying is phones. It’s not hard to go to check the time and end up looking through social media for a while. It can be beneficial when studying for students to completely turn off their phones, so that it eliminates the possible distraction until the amount of studying needed is complete. 

Another studying suggestion is listening to music. This can help create background noise to help concentration for some students. However, it’s important to know what music works for each person. Some people can listen to any type of music and stay concentrated, but others need music without lyrics or very soft music in order to not be distracted by it. Listening to music can be hard if it’s being listened to from the phone, since the phone can be a distraction. If listening to music is a helpful studying tip, it may be a good idea to set the phone out of reach instead of turning it completely off, that way music can still be played but it’s harder to be distracted from the phone. 

One thing to keep in mind about studying is to take breaks. Sometimes if students are studying for too long at a time it becomes hard to concentrate, so getting up and walking, taking a phone break or something similar is important for long study sessions. 

Something that helps some students when studying is having a snack. Eating food can actually help by lengthening the attention span, enhancing memory and keeping student’s energy up. 

Everyone studies differently, but finding what works for each individual is important for success. And while studying and preparing for exams are important at the end of the year, it’s still important to get good sleep before your tests as well. Hopefully these tips give good ideas for studying, and good luck on end of the year exams.