Finals week is stressful enough as it is. It encompasses long nights studying and memorizing lecture slides for cumulative exams, and it’s everyone’s final push to get that desired grade. But add in two finals in one day, work shifts and maybe even a 10-page paper and you have yourself a recipe for a mental breakdown.

Sometimes the actual exams aren’t the only thing that students need to worry about during finals week. A lot of students have part-time jobs with shifts changing just for finals week, and some unlucky individuals have two finals scheduled on the same day. So to add to the already stressful week, these other circumstances really do take a toll. Here are a few tips to help you cope with the added stress of finals.

*If you’ll be working during finals week:*

Obviously, the better thing to do is to opt out of taking shifts during finals. Talk to your supervisor or manager; they are usually understanding about letting you take the day off for academic reasons. However, if you have a job where working during finals is required, such as in Dining Services, then schedule your shifts wisely around your exams. If you don’t have an exam until Wednesday, use the weekend and maybe Monday to work your shifts. If your tests are evenly spread out throughout the week, schedule a shift right after every exam instead of cramming all your shifts together before the exams begin. That way you won’t be worrying about studying during work, and after your exam, you can use your shift as a break from all the reading and cramming.

*If you have two exams in one day:*

Last semester, two of my classes always scheduled their exams on the same day. Whether it was for finals or not, I always had to plan out my study schedule for those two classes, and the hardest part was knowing which one was more important to focus on.

I managed it by studying harder for the class that I thought had the more difficult material. For days when I had more than one exam, studying for both of them on the same day made it much worse. Everything got jumbled up, and it became hard to focus on the material while studying two completely different subjects, such as food science and philosophy.

A good way to prepare is to start studying ahead of time and study one thing at a time. Don’t try to memorize two different lectures in one day.

*If you have a paper to write that counts as a final:*

When studying for a class isn’t necessary and instead gets replaced with an eight-, 10- or even 15-page paper, sometimes that becomes the biggest thing to worry about. If the topic is difficult or the amount of work that needs to go into the paper is heavy, it seems easy to put it off until the very last minute. However, that will just lead to more stress as the deadline nears. Instead of procrastinating, take the time to knock out that essay, or at least a big part of it, before you start studying for your exams. That way the paper is out of the way, and you’re free to just focus on your tests.

_Melissa is a freshman in Media._