This week’s blog post is coming to ya live from my last week of classes of the spring semester. I feel like I’m holding on by a thread BUT I miraculously haven’t come fully unraveled yet. A big part of getting through the crazy end-of-semester has to do with organization. How well I do towards the end of the year has a direct correlation to how well I have myself organized before the craziness begins. Here are some of my tips for getting through the end of semester, especially in grad school!
Plan, plan, plan.
I love writing out to-do lists so my number one piece of advice is to plan out your stressful weeks ahead. Map out when your assignments will be due and when your exams are, and work backwards from that. Make your own personal due date for getting those assignments done. Whether it’s a week before or the night before. Whatever works best for you is what you should do here.
I do the bulk of this planning at the beginning of the semester. I take my syllabus and write down big due dates all throughout the year so I can visually SEE where my problem weeks will be. Then as they get closer, I develop a game plan for myself so I make sure it all gets done!
One giant checklist.
When I know there are stressful weeks up ahead, I will almost always make a giant end-of-semester checklist. It’s as much for organizational purposes as it is a countdown for myself. You know, “only 6 more big assignments to hand in until freedom” type of thing. I do this in a separate place from my planner but I’m sure you could do it in your planner if you wanted! I use my handy dandy moleskine notebook. I write down everything I have due in list format and block it by week. Sometimes it makes me feel better just to see it all out in a list instead of spread out across weeks or months in my planner.
One assignment at a time.
The biggest thing that helps me is to take it one assignment at a time. Tackle the highest priority items first, and then trickle down from there. I was freaking out about one assignment at the beginning of this end-of-semester craziness and when I stepped back and realized it wasn’t something I needed to worry about RIGHT THEN, I tackled some higher-priority things and I felt much better coming back to it after some other things were done.
Lean on your friends.
One of the biggest things that got me through undergrad and one of the biggest things that is getting me through grad school now is collaborating on assignments with friends. It’s SO much easier to split up big projects, papers, share ideas on case studies, etc. and it makes the process go MUCH faster. Nearly all of our teachers encourage group work in grad school (except on exams, of course) which is so nice!
Find a way to relieve stress.
For me, you guessed it, I go to spin class. Just 45 minutes twice a week really has a huge impact on my mental health. When I was having a really rough week, spin class just helped me see the bigger picture. This stress relief doesn’t have to be exercise, although exercise definitely helps. Meditating, painting, reading a book, watching Netflix, baking… there are so many things you could do. I think people get burnt out so much more easily when all they’re doing is studying. I’m not saying you should blow off doing schoolwork or studying if you feel it’s necessary but make sure to take brain breaks every now and then so you can come back to it fresh and focused.
What are your tips for getting through crazy weeks in the semester? Share them below!
