Decide how you need to balance your play and study time over the holiday.  What family commitments do you have?  Are your outlines complete?  Where are you in your review for exams?  Here are some tips to consider:

• Be realistic about your ability to study over the holiday.  Do not expect to accomplish six weeks of work in 5 days.  Enjoy Thanksgiving Day with family or friends.  Block out times when you can realistically study during the remainder of the vacation.
• Make a priority list of tasks.  Work on tasks in the order of priority.
• Break tasks into smaller steps.  It is easier to motivate yourself to outline one topic or read two cases or rewrite one section of a paper.  You will not be motivated by too large of a task.  
• Consider productive ways that you can use travel time:  listen to Sum and Substance CDs or a homemade tape of your outline while driving back and forth; review an outline sitting in the airport; quiz yourself with flashcards instead of watching an in-flight movie; if traveling with a classmate, consider answering practice questions together during the trip.
• Consider whether you can include your family or friends in helping you study: quizzing you from flashcards or quizzing you on your outlines, for example.  You get to study, and they get to participate.
• And, most importantly, have safe and healthy traveling and holiday celebrations.

Remember this is a marathon and not a sprint.  It is attractive to skip meals, skip sleep, and skip exercise to get more hours to study.  Make sure you get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep.  Eat balanced meals and not junk food.  Get three thirty-minute exercise periods a week.  Do not neglect yourself during finals. 

During the last week of class and the Thanksgiving holiday, beware of the false sense that “I have all day to do X,” which will likely cause you to procrastinate.  Instead, fill in blocks of time each day with the topics you will study during that time period.  Stay focused and stay on task.  Do not let yourself fall into the trap of procrastination!

Determine your reward system to stay motivated.  The rewards can be large or small depending on the tasks.  You might go to the movies with your family if you study for a certain number of hours.  You might watch one half-hour of television if you complete a smaller task.  Use your imagination for rewards:  a new pair of shoes at the mall; reading a magazine; a luxurious soak in a bubble bath; dinner with friends; a morning at the spa; a run with the family dog.  You will accomplish more and find it easier to start tasks if you have a reward waiting for you.  So, stick to your schedule for studying and then reward yourself.   

Boil your course down to a one- or two-page checklist of topics and subtopics.  Memorize the list for a closed-book exam and write it down on scrap paper after you are told you can start the exam.  In an open-book exam, place this list at the top of your outline.  Use it as a handy guide to see if you have forgotten anything in your outline of an answer to an exam question.

Two classes have been added to the spring 2010 schedule.  The final exams for these classes are:

 

1)  Crim. Pro. 2: Judicial Process (Abramson) - Friday, 4/23/2009 at 1:00 pm

2)  Business Organizations (Blackburn) - Monday, 4/26/2009 at 1:00 pm

Use study groups judiciously as you prepare for finals.

• Do not skimp on your personal review time by joining too many group activities.
• Schedule group time when you have reviewed the material enough to gain the most from discussions.
• Alternate who explains concepts or answers questions so everyone has to “work” and get practice.
• Have individual practice question time as well – your group cannot help you during the exam.
• If study group sessions become too frustrating, consider gracefully bowing out to study by yourself or with just one other person.
  

It's that time in the semester when stress begins to escalate to new levels of intensity.  However, now is also the time when you need to use your best stress resilience skills.  Stress that is out of control can lead to illness, anxiety, lessened concentration, lack of sleep, and many other problems.  Below are a few more tips on managing your stress for the remainder of the semester.

• Remember to look at the pieces and not the whole.  Focus on one small task at a time.  List all of the topics that you need to review for each exam course.  List all of the research, writing, and editing tasks that you need to complete for a paper.  Then focus on one small task at a time until that small task is complete.  Cross it off the list and move on to the next small task.  Step by step you can do it all. 
• Ask for help if you are feeling overwhelmed.  Talk to your professors about areas of the course that are confusing you.  Talk to a counselor at the Student Counseling Center.  Talk to a physician if you are having physical problems.  Talk to your family.  
• Sleep at least 8 hours a night.  You will be more productive when you study.  You will be able to focus on the essentials.  You will be able to make wiser decisions about your priorities for studying.  You will feel less helpless and hopeless.  You will be less likely to burst into tears or yell at everyone around you.  You will go into exams well-rested and alert. 
• Add exercise to your schedule if you have let it go.  Exercise is one of the best stress busters you can use.  Try to get a minimum of three 30-minute workouts a week.  Consider where a study break can include an exercise break.  Even walking around the building or the campus can be a boon to your brain cells for memory and your body for sleeping better.