Finals week is an unavoidable and unpleasant week in most college and high school student's lives. The shear stress alone of having to take five cumulative exams can be overwhelming, much less actually studying for and taking the exams. There have been hundreds of studies (mayo clinic) showing that high-stress levels relate to reduced academic performance, so properly handling stress is almost as important as studying itself. Therefore, the first step is to make finals week less stressful is to stay healthy. Apps like New York Times cooking and Strava can help you eat right and keep your body moving. The next step is being in the right mental state. Luckily, there are some great anti-anxiety apps like Headspace that can help you focus on the task at hand and feel relaxed while studying and help you to stay calm while taking the test. 

Now that at least some of the butterflies in your stomach are gone, it’s time to hit the books, start studying, and achieve great results. The crazy thing about finals week is you must remember a whole semester's worth of material, so you have a right to be a little nervous. Thankfully there are plenty of apps and techniques that can help you recall all the information that is buried somewhere in that brain of yours, it might be deeply buried, but it’s down there, I promise. The first step is to know you’re learning style, which at this point, you’ve probably already figured out what type of learning works best for you. If not, no worries, there are plenty of tests online that can help you figure that out. Once you know you’re learning style, you can download any of the hundreds of apps that are designed to help people precisely like you. If you are a visual learner, try Simplemind, it’ll let you draw pictures and associate them with definitions, as well as connect related concepts. If flashcards are more your style, then try Quizlet, where there are 1,000s of different flashcard groups for hundreds of different subjects.

Whether you are studying to pass the final or trying to get a 100% on the test so you can pass the class, it can be challenging to find the motivation to study at the end of a long semester of college. Staying on task is one of the essentials of having a productive study session. The first step to increase your productivity is to make a to-do list; this will help you prioritize your time. There are hundreds of great to-do list apps out there, so find ones that fit your needs. After your to-do list is made, it can be hard to stay focused in a quiet room, much less with your phone, Facebook, email, and Tik Tok buzzing at your 24-7. To limit all the incoming notifications and other distractions, download a study space app. These apps can help keep you focused by blocking incoming notifications and disabling certain websites during your study sessions. These apps are a great way to stay in the zone for the extended periods required to study for all your finals.