WRAPPING IT UP

/in /by

It’s a long weekend here in Canada, looking into the last day of class for many of you, with exams starting this week and next. It can be hard, in the peak of summer sun, barbecues, family, and friends, to maintain focus on polishing off term work and preparing for finals. This can be a make-or-break couple of weeks. Making a plan and working the plan are strong tools for ending strong with less stress than you’d have with a hit-or-miss approach.

To ensure that you will keep sufficient focus during the dog days of August, take time this evening or tomorrow to pull together what you need to do over the next couple of weeks. First off, this and every evening, take five or ten minutes and visualize your course goal–the feeling you will have when you walk out of the exam knowing that you have completed the term.

Then grab your scheduler, and make sure you are including these steps for a clean wrap:

  • Check for any necessary revisions in your academic, family, social and work life. Get these on your calendar.
  • Plan for sleep, physical activity, and mental hygiene. Get these on your calendar.
  • Check the exam schedule daily for any exam schedule changes.
  • As you did last week if you were following this blog, list what needs to be done before each exam.
  • Note the challenge areas that are going to require the most review.
  • Schedule achievable, reasonable review time.
  • Allow travel time to and from the exam venue. Know how to get to the location of each exam venue if the exam is not in the regular classroom.

Plan for the distractions of summer to keep motivation and performance high. This means rewarding yourself for keeping to your schedule, and for getting back on schedule when you fall off.

Here’s a distraction tip I’ll pass on: One student sets their phone to vibrate periodically through the day. When it does, they check to see if they are on task (and task may be a bit of R&R, or may be reviewing the Krebb cycle). They endorse for checking, and endorse for being on task or for getting back on track.

This sounds pretty routine, and it is. No drama, just some routine elements of getting through a clean end of term. The drama happens when the routine gets overlooked . . . 

So have a solid last week. Let me know what routines work for you, and what challenges you face. Next week I’ll discuss writing exams. In the meantime, connect to discuss your particular challenges [email protected] 

The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS PLEASE DIAL 911.