Finals coming quicker than you think, cramming techniques to help IB students and non- IB students.

Not to promote cramming for finals, but let’s face it: everybody crams for finals. We all make plans to study a month in advance, but life gets in the way. Finals bring a lot of stress and tears because they can bring a grade up or down a letter.
With finals rapidly approaching and the days fading away, here are A to Z tips for cramming.

• A- Activity. A little activity helps by giving you a break from studying. Taking five minutes to walk around the block to clear your head will help the information sink in faster and longer.
• B- Breakfast. Eating breakfast is important. You do not want your stomach to distract you during finals.
• C-Calculator. Graphing calculators will be great for math finals.
• D- Directions. Make sure to read and follow the directions. Sometimes, I jump to conclusion about the answers without reading, and then when I get the final back, I got the answers wrong for not following directions. Learn for my mistakes
• E- Equations. Know all the equations that will be on your math final. Write them over and over until you get them. Most likely you will remember them on the final and when you are thirty.
• F-Food. Don’t forget to eat, but do not eat junk food. Eat power food such as fruit and vegetables before your finals to help beat hunger. You have ten minutes enough time for a snack break.
• G-Grades. Ask for your first and second quarter grades to figure out what you need to get on your final. Figuring that out is a lifesaver because then you know which finals you need to spend more time studying for and which ones not to worry so much about.
• H- Highlighters. Having two or three highlighters handy will help point out the important information that you think will be on the final.
• I-IOPs. IB candidates: do not wait to do your IOPs at the last minute. Also, you should volunteer to perform your IOP first so you can spend the rest of your time studying for your other classes.
• J-Jokes. Don’t be so serious all the times. This is the time of joy, since the year is almost over: be able to joke around while studying.
• K-Keep it together. If you are cramming for finals, you don’t have time to break down and cry. If you feel that you are about to break down, stop, take a breath and continue studying.
• L-Learn. Learn to make acronyms, such as “Mister King Henry Died Drinking Beautiful Dark Chocolate Milk Under Neptune’s Planet” for the metric system.
• M-Memorization. Memorize by using notecards or by rewriting the material over and over again.
• N-Notes. Have notes on every subject. Read through them before you go to bed the night before, and that will help with the memorization.
• O-Organization. Organizing your notes will help deciding what you believe is important to study.
• P-Pens and pencils. Have extra pens and pencils on hand in case you run out of ink or lose a pencil before the test.
• Q-Questions. Ask all the questions you have before the final, that way you know the information during the test. It won’t help you to be timid and not inquisitive in class.
• R- Repetition. Repeat the material over and over because the information will last longer in your memory.
• S-Sleep. Make for sure to get enough sleep; no one wants to fall asleep during their finals.
• T-Tests. Look at the old tests from first semester. Sometimes teachers might use questions they used before on the final.
• U-Unique. Come up with your own unique study tips.
• V-Visuals. Make visuals. It has been proven that students learn better when they are learning by hearing, seeing and listening, because they are repeating the materials. Also if you watch videos over the information, it is a quick little review.
• W-Water. Stay hydrated; you don’t want to become light-headed and have to go to the nurse, missing the test.
• X- Xtreme Caffeine Intake. If you can’t sleep, at least drink caffeine to help stay awake.
• Y-You can do It. If you do not have faith in yourself, then you aren’t going to do as well. Keep this saying in mind: “If you think positively then positive things will happen, but if you think negatively than negative things will happen.”
• Z- Zin. Stay calm; in the end, everything will be okay.

Cramming is not the best method of studying for finals, but if you find yourself in the position that you are needing to cram like crazy, use these tips to help you succeed. Good luck with finals.