Beyond ‘eat, sleep, study’: How I really prepare for finals

Finals week always seems far away, until it’s not. Suddenly, there are papers, projects, and exams all happening at once, and it can feel impossible to keep track of everything. The key to doing well isn’t luck; it’s being organized and productive long before finals arrive.

One of the best ways to prepare is to review early and often. Go back through old quizzes and retake them for extra practice. Some professors reopen quizzes on Canvas so you can review past questions or try again. It’s one of the easiest ways to figure out what you know and what you don’t.

If you use Chrome, you can add the Canvas Quiz Loader extension. It automatically loads the correct answers from your previous quiz attempts. This makes it simple to study the right material without wasting time searching for what you missed. Instead of flipping through old notes, you can focus directly on what needs improvement.

When it comes to textbooks, don’t reread every chapter. That takes hours and doesn’t always help your memory in the long term. Most textbooks include chapter summaries that break down the main ideas in just a few pages. Rereading those is much faster and far more effective. If your book doesn’t have summaries, try looking them up online. Many students post breakdowns or flashcards from the same course, so don’t be afraid to use those resources.

Another strategy that made a massive difference for me was teaching the material to someone else. When I was taking calculus, I used to go home after finishing each chapter and teach my dad what I’d learned that day. He wasn’t taking the class, but explaining the concepts out loud forced me to think carefully about how everything connected and why each step mattered. If I could clearly walk him through how to solve a problem or explain a formula in simple terms, I knew I truly understood it. Teaching someone else is one of the best ways to reinforce your memory.

You have to recall information, organize your thoughts, and explain it clearly, which strengthens your understanding and makes the knowledge stick. I always told myself, “If I can teach my dad, I can teach anyone,” and by the time finals came around, I didn’t just remember the material, I owned it.

However, the biggest thing that helps me prepare for finals is staying organized throughout the semester. I keep a detailed to-do list that helps me see all my assignments, tests, and projects in one place.

To make one like mine, start by opening every syllabus your professors gave you. Go through each and write down every assignment, quiz, and due date from the start of the semester to midterm, then again from midterm to finals. List each class separately so you can clearly see

what’s due and when. I group my tasks by week, so it’s easy to check what’s coming up and how heavy each week’s workload will be. Under each class, I list everything due that week: papers, quizzes, presentations, and finals. Then I highlight or check them off as I complete them.

By the end of the semester, I can see how much time I’ve spent studying for each class. That helps me estimate how much time to dedicate to just finals. As a rule, I try to prepare for each final at least as long as I would study during a typical week, but usually a little more.

If you prefer a more direct organization, there are great tools for that too. Tasks for Canvas is another extension that adds a to-do list sidebar right on your Canvas dashboard, showing everything due by day, week, or month. Another option is Better Canvas, which offers similar features with more customization, like color-coding and more detailed progress tracking. Both help keep your workload visibile and manageable without switching between tabs or classes.

To me, being ready for finals isn’t about cramming the night before; it’s about managing your workload early and keeping up with assignments before the pressure hits. When you stay organized and use the tools available, finals week feels less stressful and a lot more manageable.

In the end, being prepared just means being consistent. And when finals come around in the coming weeks, you’ll already be ready to finish strong.