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While finals may be the bane of every college student’s existence, they are survivable. Smart study sessions, mental breaks, plenty of sleep, and a healthy diet are all ways to keep afloat, but there’s another thing every student needs—a finals survival kit.
We’ve scoured Amazon for the best items to help college students through the hardcore weeks in prep for their end of semester tests. Gear up and good luck, students!
Study Stuff
Never lose your spot again with these sticky tabs from Post-it. With these colorful flags, you can mark important pages in your textbooks so you can jump right into your studying. Use the four different colors—aqua, yellow, pink, and violet—to represent different things, like yellow for vocabulary, blue for dates, pink for concepts, and violet for charts or diagrams.
Flashcards are a classic study tool for a reason. They’re great for self-quizzing, studying with a friend, or even studying on the go. These sturdy index cards are hole-punched and come with metal binder rings to keep everything organized. This set comes with 10 colors in the cards’ headers, so you can color-code your notes by subject!
- Sharpie Pocket Highlighters – Assorted Colors (12 count)
Sharpie does much more than just, well, sharpies. Their highlighters are ideal for marking up your textbooks or handwritten notes and emphasizing the most important elements. These vibrant highlighters are smear-proof, ensuring your text is clear and readable. (And if you’re hesitant about highlighting your books, don’t be. Most bookstores will buy back marked books, and the next student who uses it will thank you.)
Check out even more high-quality study materials here!
Health
It seems everyone and their dog gets sick right around finals time, so keeping yourself healthy is key. These PURELL hand sanitizer packs are perfect for carrying around, and with their jelly-wrap cases, you can clip it to your backpack to ensure you always have some germ-killing sanitizer on hand. It also comes in four scents—Ocean Kiss, Naturals, Aloe, and Original.
Kleenex is pretty much synonymous with tissues at this point. These slim (and funky-colored) packs are perfect for slipping into your backpack or purse, so you always have a tissue in the event of a runny nose or sneeze attack. Don’t let a little cold hold you back from studying! Each pack comes with 10 tissues, giving you a grand total of 160! That’s nothing to sniff at.
While it’s tempting to drink nothing but coffee or energy drinks while studying, water will help you more in the long run. The water bottles by Simple Modern are ideal for studying, since their bottles are anti-leak and anti-condensation proof. Choose from over 40 colors or designs that fit your style!
Snacks and Drinks
Now that we’ve talked about health, let’s pull a 180 and talk about motivating junk food! CraveBox creates snack packs that are perfect for finals study sessions. A mix of salty and sweet, this snack package comes with candy, granola bars, chips, cookies, and more. Use these treats as rewards for your hard work. You’ve earned it.
Tea is a nice alternative to coffee, and can still pack a caffeine punch. This assortment of popular teas by Bigelow comes in six flavors—English Teatime, Earl Grey, Lemon Lift, Constant Comment (orange spice), Plantation Mint, and Green Tea. Drink it hot or iced, sweeten with honey or sugar (or don’t).
If you don’t have a Mr. Coffee or a Keurig in your dorm room, you can go for the instant coffee mix from Maxwell House. They have a grand total of 22 different flavors, including: French Vanilla Cafe, Toasted Hazelnut Cappuccino, Mocha, Pumpkin Spice, Dark Mayan Chocolate, and more. Simply add hot water and stir for a tasty caffeinated drink.
Sleep
Even if your dorm enforces quiet hours, earplugs are still a good idea to keep noise levels down while you catch some shut eye. These purple earplugs from Mack’s are #1 doctor recommended, and designed with comfort in mind. They’re slim-fit to mold into any ear and have slow-release foam for ultimate ease.
Block out the morning sun or your roommate’s late-night lamp with these sleep masks by Alaska Bear. The super soft silk provides comfort and will keep you cool. The adjustable strap is designed to keep from tangling your hair or snagging on your pillow or sheets. The masks come in 10 colors/designs, including a classic black, burgundy polka dot, or even Starry Night.
Focus
Whether you’re studying in a common room, your dorm, a library, or outside, there will probably be background noise. Cancel it out with these Anker wireless headphones. You can listen to sharp-sounding music or simply dull the ambient noise while you study. These headphones come with a built-in microphone, is Bluetooth enabled, and produce exceptional sound.
Own your study time by hanging a Do Not Disturb sign on your dorm door. These quirky signs from Graphics and More come in a host of designs, ranging from “Genius at Work” to “Do Not Disturb — Unless You Have Chocolate” to “Do Not Disturb — I’m Disturbed Enough Already.” Find one that suits your personality and hang it on your doorknob to keep pesky distractions away.
Other
Finals are stressful, so how to you get rid of that restless energy? Stress toys! These squeezable eggs from the Friendly Swede offers the perfect outlet. Each set of three comes with soft, medium, and firm grip strength, and perfectly fit in the palm of your hand. Use them to relieve stress, reduce joint pain, or even keep focused on your task.
When it comes to finals, you NEED to take a few breaks. Getting your mind off studying for a bit will actually help the information sink in. So close your books and open up this fun little LEGO kit for a while. These mini packs come in various colors and can build a variety of fun figures—animals, vehicles, buildings and more.
Many colleges have therapy dogs come to visit to de-stress the students on campus. If you can’t make it, or desperately need a pup late at night, a stuffed animal is a suitable substitute. A golden retriever is one of America’s favorite dogs, but these tiny plushies by Aurora have a variety of breeds available—huskies, labs, pugs, border collies, and more. (They also have cats and other animals, of course.) A faux furry friend can be just the lift you need when finals gets ruff—sorry, rough.
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[All images taken from their respective Amazon pages].
