Name: Finals Week - 4 Common Mistakes to Avoid
Uploaded: 2020-06-08T03:27:48.000Z
Duration: 8 min 14 s
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With finals week quickly approaching, it is becoming more and more critical to spend your

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In the rush and stress of finals, we often make the same mistakes.

Stay tuned to find out what common Finals Week mistakes to avoid.

What's going on guys, J from MedSchoolInsiders.com.

I've been posting regulary on the blog for the last several weeks, so if you haven't

checked out the website in a while, take a pick and let me know your thought.

Also, if you have not already, be sure to check out my prior video and post on 6 tips

for Finals Week where I go over good study habits and strategies to maximize your score

In this Video, we will instead focus on common mistakes to avoid leading up to and during

The first mistake I see far too often is using Passive Learning rather than Active Learning.

I have gone over the differences in active versus passive learning in earlier videos

The main takeaway is this: during finals week, your time is extremely limited, so when you

study, be sure to study effectively and efficiently.

It's too easy for us sit down and decide to “study” without a clear goal or purpose

What this often leads to is mindless passive studying, which is only a fraction as effective

So rather than sitting at your desk at 9AM and telling yourself you will study for the

next 4 hours, break down the studying you wish to accomplish into achievable tasks and

Examples would be completing Practice Test #4, finishing 200 Anki cards, or using the

Feynman technique to teach a complex concept to a classmate during a small group study

Rather than passively reading notes or listening to audio recordings, instead make studying

an active process with recall tasks like flash cards, doing practice problems, explaining

or teaching concepts to others, quizzing your friends, or creating condensed notes.

You will retain more information in a shorter period of time and ultimately get a better

I don't mean tidy up your room and color code your class notes.

The organization I'm referring to is with regards to your study schedule.

Sometimes you have multiple finals in a single day, or a final and a paper due the same day.

If you casually approach studying one subject at a time, you're gonna to have a bad time.

Because of the conflicting nature of exam dates and assignments, it is paramount to

create a schedule to plan out how you will allocate your time for each exam as the date

So this is what I would do, I would take a piece of paper and list out the days leading

I would then divide days based on subject and task.

For example, Monday morning may read “condense chapter 3 through 5 notes and complete practice

test #2 under Chemistry, and Monday afternoon may read “Complete 200 Anki cards on Central

Nervous System Anatomy and go over complex concepts A, B, and C with study group all

Don't forget to have blocks of time for errands, mental breaks, and catch up blocks

for when you fall off track, which will very likely happen.

There are certain things you have to do every day – like shower, eat, exercise, etc. – use

Remember, efficiency is the name of the game!

So, other important things to remember include things like taking 20 seconds every 20 minutes

to look at something in the distance to relax the ciliary muscles in your eyes and reduce

Another one of my favorites is to stay hydrated by keeping a water bottle close by which has

dual purpose: one, you're staying hydrated which has a slew of benefits, but two, it

also forces you to get up and move when you need to use the restroom.

The third mistake is something most of us are far too familiar with: procrastination.

I'm gonna take this moment to introduce my friend Justin from Engineering Worth.

His channel is similar to Med School Insiders but it is primarily focus on empowering engineering

However, it is also like Med School Insiders in that there's something there for everyone

regardless of what type of student you are.

So, without further ado, here is Justine with more on procrastination.

Thank you J for allowing me to be on the Med School Insiders channel.

So, procrastination; this again ties in with the previous point on staying organized.

If you approach your studying without a plan, that is without a proper study schedule and

organized structure, it's easy to push off studying until later.

Creating a schedule for the days leading up to the exam helps you pace yourself and plan

Often times, we don't realize how much we have to study until we actually write it all

Therefore, creating a schedule will be a huge step in the right direction if you have issues

There are other tips and tricks you can use as well (J made two great videos, one on specifically

how to beat procrastination and another on how to use the Pomodoro technique – which

also happens to be my favorite technique for overcoming procrastination and getting a lot

There also will be links to all these videos in the description below.

The fourth and final mistake is limiting your sleep.

If you recall from the first video I created on Final Exams, all-nighters are rarely ever

In short, all nighters make you sluggish during the test and rob you of the benefits of REM

I have spoken about sleep stages and the importance of memory consolidation in this video.

While most of us are not pulling all-nighters regularly, most of us ARE depriving ourselves

I would argue that leading up to and during finals week, there are even fewer reasons

that you should be restricting your sleep.

Leading up to finals, you should be getting more sleep, not less.

Class tasks and assignments are on the decline and during finals week, there are generally

If you are sleep deprived leading up to Finals Week, I can point to one of two things that

are the likely culprits: First, you're not using active learning when you study, because

It's extremely challenging to go the whole day using active learning, especially when

you start getting tired later in the day.

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Finals Week - 4 Common Mistakes to Avoid

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