The “Stay Alive” Guide to Final's Week : 9 Ways To Ace That Exam

It’s been a long Spring Quarter. Weeks of hard work and sleepless nights studying have gotten you to the final week where tests and essays take over your life. Ohio State University’s exam schedule runs a grueling 7 day long stretch from April 24th to the last day of the month, April 30th. We know it’s going to be a rough week for our buckeyes; therefore, we’ve come up with our personal nine simple guidelines to making it through.

1. Know your Exam Dates – This item may seem obvious, but some students just assume when their exams will take place. The Ohio State University has many resources on their website; as well as, documents explaining the proper time periods in which exams are conducted. These times are determined based on what day and time your class meets for the first time during a normal semester week.

2. Reschedule If Conflict – After identifying when all your exams occur, if you have multiple within a short period of time, consult with your professor to discuss an alternate time/test which you might be able to take based on your final’s schedule. Professors should be understanding on this matter as long as you can provide proof that you have another exam conflict or more than 2 exams within one day.

3. Participate in Pre-Exam Classes – You may have personal opinions on how your professor conducts his/her classroom and lectures, but all want nothing more to see their students succeed. In most cases, professors have specific classes which are either part of the curriculum (mandatory) or up to the student to attend in which they will cover a majority of the material which will be on the final exam. This is pretty much a free pass to an A+, don’t miss it.

4. Study Buddies Unite –  You’re in college… So, we’d like to assume you’ve obviously either made friends with other classmates or peers who are currently taking your same course; therefore, take a couple hours the week or days before the exam and go over notes together. They might have written down pertinent information which you have missing.

5. No All Nighters – Ahhh… crunch time. Those before you have done it and more than likely you have also spent way to much time staring at your scribbled notes trying to decode them at 3:30AM – six hour before the good ole test time. Well, it’s a nobranier that your mind needs plenty of sleep to rejuvenate before… well anything. Just try and re-think that decision to procrastinate up until 24-48 hours prior to an exam. We don’t care who you are… preparation is key!

6. Set Your Alarms – Yep, “alarms” as in plural. You’re in college, we shouldn’t need to explain our reasoning 🙂

7. Breakfast Of Champions – No one likes a growling tummy, do your classmates a favor and at least grab a bagel before leaving your humble abode. That way you wont be squirming around while everyone’s now more distracted at your awkward stomach noises. Rude, not to mention you definitely aren’t going to be concentrating on the more important objective with that empty stomach

8. No Booze – Absolutely NO celebrating until all exams are final and wrapped up. We recommend locking yourself in the library if your roommates choose to pre-game before every exam and go out once the pens are down. Yea, we’ve all had roommates who have some how lucked out and finished all their exams within the first days or were even more lucky if they only had 1 exam, but no excuses… no drinking. And especially no alcohol even after finals if you are not of legal age!

9. Stay Positive and Motivated – “I Think I Can… I Think I Can” – None of the scholars before you got far by thinking negatively. The more positive your mind, the clearer it will be to select the correct answer.

We’re only bakers, but all of us at Fate Cakes have sat exactly where you are now – rethinking courses you should have taken, like photography, cause it would have been easier than economics, but you’ve come this far! There’s no reason to ruin all that you’ve worked this hard to accomplish. Finally, when all is complete and you’re able to sit back and reminisce over a great semester, give us a call… we’ll be there with some specialty gourmet cupcakes to bring the year academic year to a close