My Realistic Study-Routine Before College Finals #46

My college juniors just wrote their final semester exam, and my entire Facebook newsfeed is flooded with “last-together: feeling nostalgic” posts. That seems a bit dramatic.

When people talk about college life, many things come to mind – but I’d like to share one of my innocent, harmless memories from college. It was one week before my final exam and I knew only 30% of the syllabus. Anxiety bottled up, yet procrastination and ignorance had full control over me.

The Morning Routine:

I usually wake up to the sound of my mom in the kitchen. Our neighbor’s dog always barks for no reason, and a tea trail nearby turns on their radio – it feels like the world is against me getting any sleep! I don’t get out of bed until my mom makes breakfast and comes into my room to “wake me up”; this is one of my rules at home. No matter what alarms are set or how many zombies are taking over, I always want her to be the one who wakes me up – she calls me so sweetly that it feels lucky to start each day with her.

After breakfast, I plan out what chapters I need to read and which subjects need revising. Then, I check all social media, WhatsApp etc., wasting about two hours before finally opening a textbook. After half an hour reading, I take a break for 15 minutes (including house tours and newspaper). To celebrate completing one page of reading material, I allow myself five minutes on YouTube… only to realize after several videos and couple hours that the topic isn’t even in syllabus anymore!

Eternal shower-lunch-afternoon break:

Irrespective of my progress in studying, I had to take a break by 12:30 for a shower, lunch, and an afternoon nap. Meanwhile, I switched on the TV and navigated to a random music channel to relieve stress. I couldn’t tell if it was day or night when I fell asleep. Later, I woke up and gathered for evening prayer. Then it was time for snacks and coffee.

Evening-night time Routine:

From global warming to feminism, from sports to viral trends, evenings were the prime time to discuss anything but textbooks. At 9:30-10 my mom would call everyone for dinner.

“One minute mom! I need to be complete this paragraph before dinner!”

Mom called me three times in one minute and yelled. When I hurried to the dinner table, I found Mom still in the kitchen stirring the curry. Nothing was ready. It took her five more minutes to bring everything to the table. My friend texted that he had finished revising satellite communication and wanted to call me about his doubts. What had I been doing all day? I thought as I ate my dinner, deciding that skipping sleep tonight would be necessary if I wanted to catch up.

I was focused for ten minutes until a friend called with questions about his doubts. Embarrassed, I laughed nervously and wished I could disappear for wasting my whole day away. Somehow our conversation changed from PSLV satellites to random jokes after an hour—and Dad’s warning look prompted me to hang up! Vowing never again to waste time like this, I fell asleep on my book.

Thanks for stopping by. Check out my next blog here.