Studying for finals can be really stressful, but trying to study in a messy room can make it even worse. Give yourself one less thing to stress about by preparing your space beforehand.
1. Declutter your space
Begin by taking a look at your room and deciding on the best study area. Maybe you need a desk to lay out all of your study materials, or perhaps studying on your bed is more beneficial. Whatever the case, start your cleaning process here.
Put away anything that doesn’t belong—paper scraps, stray hangers and laundry are the usual culprits. Wash all of your dirty dishes and vacuum now, so you can’t use cleaning as an excuse to procrastinate later.
2. Provide Lighting
Studying is hard enough—there’s no need to add squinting to the list! Pull that ugly lamp out of storage, replace the light bulb that burned out months ago and let a little light into your space. You’ll not only be able to see your materials better, but the light will also help you to stay awake while burning the midnight oil.
3. Make a plan
List every subject for which you have final work and the date it’s due. Print out an online calendar and fill it in. Color coding your subjects should make this more clear.
Backtrack from the final dates and make a timeline. Think about how long each assignment will take. For example, if writing an eleven-page paper will take four days of research and four days to write, you need eight days total. Write this start date on your calendar and post it above your study area. With all the colors, the calendar is almost a beautiful wall accessory . . . almost!
4. Organize Your Materials
Remember those textbooks you spruced up at the beginning of the semester? It’s time to pull those out of the closet. Along with your books, gather any notes, binders and prior tests. Empty all of these onto a flat surface and begin sorting. Set aside anything you don’t need to study with; it will only add clutter. If you don’t need these notes anymore, recycle them!
Collect the remaining materials and group them into manageable sections. Study one section at a time, until you know that material!
Once you have your space ready, you’ll be able to study without distractions. If you need more productivity help, check out A Busy Girl’s Guide to Saving Time over at Dormify.
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Having a daughter that will soon be heading to college, this is the perfect article for her to follow and set a precedence for organization in her college life. Thank you, Alexandra Patterson, for your brilliant insight to organizing a “busy girl” lifestyle!
Jesse Barmann – Beautiful pictures of the two of you. Nicely done, they were able to catrupe very natural looking photographs which isn’t always very easy. I wish the best for the two of you in all your future endeavors.