With one month of the semester left, you need to get your stuff together

With around one month left in the semester, it is time to start doing the things that you should have been doing in the beginning.

Remember the beginning of the semester, when you promised to finally use a planner and now it is covered in layers of dust? Or when you thought you wouldn’t skip class as much, but now you haven’t been to some in a month? Or when you hoped you wouldn’t have a mental breakdown every week and now you’re on your third one today? It’s now the time to actually do what you planned in the beginning.

Before you know it, it will be dead week, and you will be panicking because you didn’t do anything you strived for and stopped thinking about it all together after January. It’s time to turn your brain back on and scroll through Pinterest to figure out how to finish this semester strong.

Lists, lists, lists

There are many important assignments that need to be done within the last month, so now is the time to prepare. Writing down a list of the due dates and assignments will keep you from missing any important and potentially grade-breaking project or test.

Try to keep the list chronological so you can feel the satisfaction of crossing off each item one by one. It also doubles in a countdown to your final day this semester, and then it will finally be summer break.

Prioritize

Look at all of the assignments you have left and rank them on easiest to hardest or shortest to longest amount of time each will take. Once you have done that, finish the easier assignments first to get them out of the way, and then you have one less thing to worry about.

Organize

If you did not stay organized throughout the semester, now is your chance. Find those crumpled up papers at the bottom of your backpack and figure out whether they are still relevant, so you can prioritize them into folders or binders.

Calculate everything

Take the remaining assignments and the grades you have received so far to see how well you have to do for the rest of the month. Many students wait to do this until finals week to see what grade they need to pass the class, but doing it now could save you a lot of stress.

You could find out that you only need to do average the rest of the semester to receive the grade you want, or you could find out you have to ace everything to pass the class. Either way, you will either be stress free or have a reason to work harder.

Go to class

If you’ve already been going to class, then you’re already on the right track. If you’ve skipped one too many, start going now. Many think the beginning of the semester is so important to attend, but the last month of the semester seems to have more points involved, so start going to class.

Sleep now

People always say to not pull all-nighters, but when stressful times like dead week and finals come around, sometimes you can’t help it. Sometimes you end up staying up through the night because you need to finish studying or a final project.

To prepare for those stressful times, take care of yourself now. Get a good amount of sleep and prepare for the worst.

Good luck. There is only one month left. Let the countdown begin.