“Study with someone you don’t really like. That way you know you’ll end up talking about work,” said Blair Matarlo, a Global Academic Fellow in the science department.

Matarlo offered this unusual advice with a laugh. Like the majority of the GAFs, she finished her undergraduate studies only a few years ago and remembers well the trials and tribulations of finals week. The GAFs, with memories of their own experiences still fresh in their minds, have several suggestions to offer students who are currently facing an intense week of studying and essay writing.

Science GAF Claudia Shrivastava added to Matarlo’s advice about group study and chimed in with the recommendation to “study with someone smarter than you.” Reviewing material with someone who understands it well can be extremely beneficial but it works both ways; teaching and explaining something to someone else is one of the best ways to remember material yourself.

Matarlo and Shrivastava also mentioned the importance of taking care of yourself during stressful, work-saturated weeks. A proper diet, exercise and sleep are vital to success and to keeping sane during finals.

While it can seem impossible at times, there are different approaches to balancing everything. Shrivastava said she often can’t tell how long she has been working and won’t notice right away as her energy levels drop. She suggested keeping snacks close at hand to nibble on as you work.

On the other hand, when science GAF Steven Sweeney was a student, he preferred to separate his time into different blocks for each activity.

“When I was studying for finals, I would work out, feed myself and then sit down to study,” he said.

Sweeney said that this makes it easier to concentrate on one task and to avoid procrastination. If you’ve already looked after yourself, he suggests, you won’t be able to give yourself any excuse not to work.

“You might think you’re hungry; no you’re not,” Sweeny said. “You might think you want to work out; you don’t.”

Sometimes, though, sleep may seem like an unaffordable luxury as the deadline approaches. Writing GAF Matthew Flood admitted that, as an undergraduate writing long literature and philosophy papers, he too stayed awake working into the wee hours of the night before it was due.

“Coffee helps, a lot of it,” Flood said. “Having a good plan helps even if you’re writing it the night before [it’s due]. Knowing what you’re going to write is a big deal, getting the thinking out of the way helps a ton. Then you have the thoughts there, you just have to write it.”

According to Luise Herkner, a writing GAF, the most important part of an essay to focus on is also the shortest parts: the introduction and conclusion.

“Make sure that your introduction and conclusion are aligned,” Herkner explained. “See if every question you pose in the introduction is going to be answered in the conclusion. Because that is what people really look for.”

But studying is a much more of a personal task, and everyone will have their own way of doing it.

“What’s important is to find out what kind of studying type you are,” Herkner explained. “Are you [a] more visual type? Do you need to read out loud, like an oral type? Or do you need to write things down? Which way works best for you?”

“I know for me personally,” she continued, “it helps to write things down. If I’m studying for an exam and I just really need to get a lot of knowledge crammed into my brain, what I do is I write everything out again and I read it out loud. And I read it in funny voices, so I try to remember the tone that I read it in and it will all come back to my memory.”

Writing GAF Lauren Sumida agrees that different ways of learning will bring about different study habits.

“What works for me probably won't work for someone else who approaches learning differently,” Sumida said. “But I found that what worked well for me for sciences and other classes covering an enormous range of material was to basically go back through my notes and recopy all of them, but that's because I learn and remember best through the act of writing.”

“For classes like Arabic,” she continued, “really clichéd tactics like color-coded flashcards - sorted by nouns, verbs, adjectives, grammar concepts — were generally my only hope.”

Forcing yourself to get started is the most important part when approaching finals season. At this point in the semester, stay organized and arrange your tasks accordingly.

“Even in terms of needing last minute help, you have to prioritize what you need help with,” Herkner said. “Do you want to see if your arguments are logical? Do you want to see if grammar works out? If the way you structured your paragraphs works out? You have to prioritize.”