totally freaking out, help!

[sunnex3]

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hey guys,
so i have two finals next week in orgo 2 and cell bio that are coming up and i am totally freaking out because there is SO much information and i have no idea how i'm going to study for all of it in time! 😱

i just need some help calming down and organizing myself, i can't think straight right now.

what do you guys do when you start to freak out????

 

[that70sfan11]

I know how you feel! I have back-to-back finals in Microbiology and Biochem tuesday of finals week. Now my finals week is a week later than yours, but you still have time!

Make a schedule!!

Ex: Spend one night making a review for Orgo Test 1 and Cell Bio Test 1
Next night, Orgo Test 2 and Cell Bio Test 2
Next night, Orgo Test 3 and cell bio Test 3
Next night, make a review for any info that has been learned since Test 3

Then the next night spend x number of hours practicing orgo and x number of hours practicing cell bio
Keep doing this and then the night before, you will have all of your reviews ready so you can just go over the reviews and will already be well-practiced.

Anyway, I was freaking out too, but making a schedule (OH and finding a friend who will study with me at those times.. pref. same classes), really helped calm me down

Also, I say screw healthy food. Buy yourself your favorite pop and snack. It's what helps get me excited about studying!

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[Willowhand]

Personally, I do better with this sort of situation when I organize my studies by accomplishments rather than hours. For example, I write down a list of things I have to do that day to keep up with my commitments. Then I know that when I am finished with those tasks, I can go do something fun! If I focus on hours, then I tend to be less productive and more bitter about the situation 😛 Although I always make sure to take a short break if I have been working for a certain amount of time.

So relax, write down the major things you need to accomplish, and divide each of those into smaller tasks. Think of some nice rewards to give yourself along the way, and get started -things often look scarier before you begin, but I find that I really need to start something to get an idea of how hard it is going to be. Readjust your schedule in the beginning if you realize you can improve it, but once you have a realistic plan down stick to it.

You're almost at the end of the semester! Think of how nice it will be to be finished 🙂 And breaaathhheeeee!

 

[sunnex3]

i'm just really scared that i'm going to freeze up on the final and get terrible grades that will completely ruin the hard work that i've done this semester. i keep on imagining about if it completely BOMB the finals and it's really freaking me out and i'm just sitting here trying not to panic.

made a schedule for the next week, and feeling a little bit better but i'm still a little more panicked that i would like to be

 

[BlacKAT33]

well, i usually dont start to freak out if i have 1 week left to study lol at my school we only had 1 study day and then finals so i usually wasn't preparing for my finals until the day before haha.
You have plenty of time to get organized. that70sfan wrote out a nice schedule for you to follow.
This is also the time where i listen to my fav. songs and eat my fav food, even if it is bad for me lol i need good munchies for intense studying

 

[Willowhand]

i'm just really scared that i'm going to freeze up on the final and get terrible grades that will completely ruin the hard work that i've done this semester. i keep on imagining about if it completely BOMB the finals and it's really freaking me out and i'm just sitting here trying not to panic.

made a schedule for the next week, and feeling a little bit better but i'm still a little more panicked that i would like to be

Panic makes things difficult... and it can be so hard not to! The cycle I have gotten into occasionally -and try like crazy to avoid now- is getting so worried about something that I can't focus on it, take a break, and then go back even more worried since I didn't start as soon as I could have. In other words, procrastinating simply to avoid the stress of facing what looks like an impossible amount of work. But the only thing that really helped me to relax was to push past that fear, struggle for a bit, and feel the glow of what I had accomplished with so much effort. That makes it easy to keep going.

Just look at it this way; you have a certain amount of time, and within that time the best you can do is the best you can do. Put in as much effort as you can, accept your accomplishments, and don't panic about the factors you cannot change. It's hard to keep things in perspective when you're looking at the prereqs, but the relaxation is worth it when you realize that one course is not the end of the world.

Last year, I had a very difficult semester, but was doing quite well in my courses and wanted to put in a strong finish to bring up my GPA for fall applications. I studied longer than I ever have, but the Physics II and Orgo II finals were killer. After working so hard, I ended up losing a full letter grade in each because of the final... I have never been so miserable about grades in my life. But, somehow, I'm heading to one of my top choice vet schools this fall -that is the best I outcome I could have hoped for, so I could not care less about those orgo and physics grades now. And I'm sure there are many other people on SDN alone who can tell you the same story.

So do your best, but keep your eyes on the final goal and don't let panic be the one in charge. Take it one day at a time, and you will get there.

 

[sunnex3]

willowhand - i totally do that too where i'll take a break because i feel like i'm panicking so much, and then i'll go back and panic more because i spent time not studying! it's such a vicious cycle.

thanks you guys SO much for helping me out here - sometimes i get so freaked out at school, but a lot of my friends don't understand mainly because i've been able to do well in school so far, and they feel like i have NOTHING to worry about. i'm so glad some of you can understand what i'm going through - i feel so silly sometimes.

i think i'm panicking a little prematurely - i looked over some orgo stuff from the beginning of the semester REALLY quickly, and found that i remember more of it than i thought - it's coming back little by little now.

anyways, thanks for the encouraging words, i'm so glad i can come to SDN to vent about stuff and people will actually understand 🙂

 

[BlacKAT33]

I noticed you're in philly now! do you go to penn, drexel, temple? is Penn your top choice vet school? maybe i will see you when I am an upperclassman (since it sounds like you want to take a year off before you apply 🙂 ) I do think it's a good idea, you sound stressed lol

 

[OnceBitten]

LOL Welcome to vet school early, I guess.

Take a deep breath, remember that each exam is not going to determine the rest of your life, be prepared to simply be proud of doing the best that you can, and forget about being the best. You'll be fine. 🙂

 

[Minnerbelle]

hey guys,
so i have two finals next week in orgo 2 and cell bio that are coming up and i am totally freaking out because there is SO much information and i have no idea how i'm going to study for all of it in time! 😱

i just need some help calming down and organizing myself, i can't think straight right now.

what do you guys do when you start to freak out????

i guess i just didn't freak out. i'd divvy up the amount of time i had left before the finals, and think of what the best way to cram that material in the allotted amount of time. sometimes, that was just going through lecture notes/powerpoints, and sometimes it was reading the book.

if it makes you feel any better, i'd have semesters where i didn't go to ANY lectures between the last midterm and finals for any of my classes... a week before finals, i'd go uh oh... . but that's when i'd get myself into a zen state of mind by taking a 2 hr nap, and then went on turbo mode with the studying. i figured, freaking out wasn't gonna help so i made sure every second from that point was spent doing something productive. this happened for a good 5 semesters too, and it worked out in the end. i didn't end up with a stellar gpa, but it was respectable, and i'm happy with that.

 

[sunnex3]

yup i'm just trying to calm my nerves - i have a terrible tendency to do this around exam time, regardless of when it is in the semester. i have a period when i feel like i don't know ANYTHING and start to freak out, and then eventually i calm down a little. of course, i also end up losing a lot of sleep.

to BlacKAT33 - yes i am a junior at Penn right now. and Penn is my top choice school (for now) i am a bit stressed, this semester has been really tough on me (and might take a toll on my GPA 🙁 )

 

[ColoradoDVM]

yup i'm just trying to calm my nerves - i have a terrible tendency to do this around exam time, regardless of when it is in the semester. i have a period when i feel like i don't know ANYTHING and start to freak out, and then eventually i calm down a little. of course, i also end up losing a lot of sleep.


Bathtub studying-get one of those little racks that go across the tub and study in the bathtub if you are freaking out. It helps keep the panic away. Just keep adding hot water as needed...you can study that way all night and your back and neck won't hurt!

 

[Willowhand]

Bathtub studying-get one of those little racks that go across the tub and study in the bathtub if you are freaking out. It helps keep the panic away. Just keep adding hot water as needed...you can study that way all night and your back and neck won't hurt!

That sounds fantastic

 

[Ben and Me]

Sunnex --

Everything will be okay 🙂

I had not-so-great grades in undergrad, took a year off between undergrad and vet school (while finishing up my pre-reqs) and still managed to get in 🙂 You don't have to have a 4.0, especially coming from such a well-renowned school as Penn. Adcoms know it is a tough, competitive school that produces smart, hard-working applicants -- let that work in your favor! It will more than make up for a B or two on your transcript 🙂

I know that you are much more brilliant than I am, and I know that you'll do just fine.

So, deep breath -- I bet you know more than you think you do, especially if you've been putting the time in all semester. You got this! 👍