Five tips to survive May!

The weather is warming up around campus, and there’s less than a month left of classes with summer just around the corner. No matter what you have planned for the break — internships, summer courses, trips or just relaxation — it is not a secret that this recess will be an enjoyable turnaround from the spring term of classes. 

However, one last barrier stands between you and summer: Final Exams. 

Although they may be stressful, finals are the best way to pull up your GPA. Here are some tips that have helped me, a first-year physics major, do well so far at USC. 

Tip #1: Know when your finals are

This might seem a bit obvious, but make sure to have your finals confirmed. You can do this by checking USC’s website for the final exam schedule or by consulting your professor. 

Many people get stuck on their immediate tasks like weekly problem sets or midterms. Because of these assignments, students can end up procrastinating the simple act of planning out how to use their study days and are overwhelmed once finals week begins. 

By planning ahead, you could very well find out that some courses have take-home finals, which can allow you to focus on preparing for your other in-person exams. If they have due dates before the in-person exams you have, work on it early and complete them before the first exam you have. Lessen the variety of things on your plate, and you won’t be as full after the meal. 

One more note: check the exemptions at the bottom of the final exam schedule for certain classes; you may be able to coordinate another test date, especially if you have two or more finals on the same day.

Tip #2: Check the syllabus, set reasonable goals 

Spotlight how much each final is worth in your total course grade by checking the syllabi, then calculate how potential scores could impact your final GPA. If there are certain parts of the class material you need to study for, take note of that and attend your professor’s office hours. Find out what grade you need in it to get your desired grade. Then, on a note or a sheet of paper, just write down what you think the difficulty will be. 

I set a parameter of 1 through 10. Ranking a course a 1/10 means you’ll barely need to look at the course notes and review — you’re either already confident that you’ll get the grade you desire or are certain you will ace the exam. Scoring a class a 10/10 signifies that you will need to dedicate every living second of your finals week studying for that exam.

USC has a period designed for students to study from May 2-5, intuitively called “study days.” Try to approximate how many hours you will need to study for certain subjects (I always like to add around two hours as a safety buffer because it’s nice to have allotted more time than you think). Then, multiply this by the number of days you have between the first study day and each of your exam dates.

Think about how much work you can actually accomplish in a day. For me, six hours of continuous studying is reasonable. 

So, for instance, my Probability Theory class requires 10 to 12 hours of work, and I had five days from when I began studying for it until the final exam. Considering I gave this class a 4/10 for the needed effort, I allotted  two hours a day, and two more extra hours on the night before the exam. After doing this for all classes, block out your days on Google Calendar or a similar service, so you can stop and relax after your set study time; it is important to not burn yourself out. 

Tip #3: Take advantage of AI

I know, I know, AI can’t do much, especially as the notations and material get more and more specialized, but there’s actually a keen trick to taking the most advantage of LLMs for exam prep. Going through the questions covered in class, reviewing problems on the back of the textbook chapters, and looking at additional problems given by the professor could be helpful. However, there is always a limit to that. 

As someone who tends to over-stress and over-prepare, I tend to find myself lost towards the end of my studies, with not much practice left for me to do. AI comes in to help here, where I can feed it my notes to assign me practice problems. The model can also help explain the answers on the next request. 

AI’s ability to provide explanations and answers is also a good way to prepare, as some textbooks might not have an answer key for all questions. AI can help you through the thought process, letting you habituate the algorithm of problem-solving for each test subject. 

Tip #4: Use Pomodoro and Feynman methods: start broad and fill the blanks in

The Pomodoro method helps to prevent boredom and burnout. You spend 25 minutes fully focused on completing your task, followed by 5 minutes of rest — then repeat. 

Just like a nice workout, some rest between intervals of studying helps your brain cement what you just learned.

The Feynman method isn’t just helpful for recall; it also ensures you truly understand the subject material. Try teaching a roommate or friend the content from your class at the same level of how you would explain it to a 12-year-old. If you can do that, it means you have an intuitive grasp of what you are studying for. 

If you’re having trouble memorizing the content to begin with — especially helpful for classes that cover lots of material — skim the textbook or lecture notes and write down “blanks.” These are concepts that are not perfectly clear to you. At the end of your skimming, you should have a full list of the particular topics you need to brush up on. 

Something that has always helped me is forming connections or analogies between the material and popular culture to help cement the topics in my brain. 

Tip #5: Make sure not to overwork yourself

Get good amounts of sleep, eat healthy, heart food, and don’t let the deadlines stress you out! We got this. Imposter syndrome and competition can burn one out easily, especially when all you have left are big exams that will take a toll on your grades. Try not to stress too much, and make sure to keep up a healthy lifestyle, too. 

Finals week definitely pushes us all to the limit, but remember: you will soon be free of a lot of your commitments. Use the extra time you are not in class to get nutrition regularly and maintain a good sleep schedule, and don’t forget to have some fun in the afternoons without an immediate exam thereafter!

I hope these tips can help you ace your finals, and let us all get that 4.0!