Kick axe this finals season
Tips from NAU’s Academic Resources Center
We’ve all been there. Ready to tackle the subject in front of us. Then something pops up on your phone — you go to check in — and suddenly an hour has passed.
Distractions and procrastination can get the best of us.
However, if you focus your energy and efforts on what’s in front of you — you can help minimize those distractions and study more efficiently.
Questions to ask yourself?
- What are your intentions when you sit down to study? What actually happens?
- In what situations does your procrastination get worse?
REMEMBER: Everyone is a procrastinator in their own way!
1. The Relaxed Procrastinator — Mismatch between effort and goals
2. The Anxious Procrastinator — Afraid to fail
3. The Perfectionist Procrastinator — Afraid to start
Your guide to making Reading Week & Finals Week be in your favor
🗓 Schedule your time 🗓
Realistically, what time is there to finish your task? How will this be structured? What is going to keep you accountable for your schedule?
⏰ Managing your time ⏰
· If you don’t know how to manage your time, learn.
· Break your goal up into little parts. Start small and build gradually.
· Make a schedule. Establish a regular time each day to work, including breaks!
#LumberjackTip Create a weekly calendar and plan it out
- Start by blocking all obligations that occur during a typical week. These are times that are not likely to change such as your class schedule, meetings, work hours, tutoring appointments, etc.
- Next, include wellness activities like eating, sleeping and exercising. Make sure you indicate when you typically like to get up in the morning and go to sleep at night. This helps you to recognize your peak hours.
- Give yourself time to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- Set aside 30–60 minutes every day for “Me Time.” With your busy schedules it can be easy to forget to take time to relax, recharge and focus on yourself.
- In the space that is left over, block your calculated study time. Remember, study time can include SI sessions, tutoring, and group study.
Bonus: calculate your study time
List each of your classes and the number of credits assigned to each class. Determine the difficulty of each class.
1 = Low Difficulty 2 = Moderate Difficulty 3 = High Difficulty
Multiply the number of credits in each class by the difficulty. Add all of the Hours of Study Time to calculate the number of study hours needed each week.
Your environment affects you more than you think 🔕
· Organize your environment so it’s conducive to accomplishing your goals.
· Where are you? Where is your focus?
· What distractions are around you? (Phone, computer, TV, music, friends, other commitments, …)
· How do you effectively manage these distractions?
🪓 Set Yourself Up for Success 🪓
Be prepared and make sure you don’t forget about the important details — like the times for your finals.
Put a reminder/calendar event in your phone with information for all your final exams.
Another helpful tip? Take a picture of this information and make it your phone backdrop so you won’t have to search for it the morning of.
If you’re a heavy sleeper, add multiple alarms or put your phone in a glass to amplify the alarm.
📝 Go time 📝
When you first get the exam, read it through completely, including the directions.
Then budget your time according to the weight of each question.
If you have an essay question that’s worth 40 points, spend more time on it than on a multiple-choice question that’s worth only 2 points.
