I’ve been very guilty lately of pouring my end of semester-graduation-moving anxiety into endless doom-scrolling. When you’re anxious, it can be hard to focus or find a sense of relief from your whirling thoughts. You can’t work on school projects or studying for all of your waking hours (or at least you shouldn’t), so here’s some inspiration for where to channel any finals stress and anxiety that you’re feeling as the end creeps up.

By: Ellice Ellis ‘20

Study days are coming to an end, and finals have arrived. Don’t fret, Trojans360 has four amazing playlists to get you through the next few days. From productivity to group projects, we’ve got you covered.

By: Ellice Ellis ‘20

Winter is tough. Get ready and stay ready. Yes, Winter is the season to spend time with family over the holidays, drink hot chocolate, and take cute pictures in your coziest gear, but the colder months can bring about challenges for many of us. Seasonal depression, finals-induced stress, family drama, and terrible skin are just a few of the perils that may affect us, college students.

By: Sophia Pei ‘22

I was advised against it by parents and friends alike but fortunately, I was able to find an eclectic group of people who were willing to go camping with me during the first two days of Dead Week. We were stressed out enough for finals, so we decided to not deal with the hassle of tent camping and backpacking; we tried out Yurt camping. Here are some highlights from our glamping experience at Lake Cachuma.

By: Sophia Pei ‘22 and Camila Grases ‘21

Ah, good old finals are approaching. We know this can be a stressful time, but don’t fret. Here are some tips on end-of-the-semester stress management we’ve learned during our time here. We hope this information is just as helpful to you as it is to us.

By: Joy Ofodu ‘18

Need a finals playlist to reflect that frantic finals mood? Look no further! From musical theatre soundtracks to film scores, rap to bubblegum pop - this 2 hour playlist contains all the wild strings and things to power through that toughest night of studying.

By: Natalia Wurst ‘21

It’s that point in the semester where everything feels extra not okay. Maybe you’d normally be able to handle simultaneously juggling two research papers, ten extracurriculars, and a couple of annoying suitemates, but you’ve been juggling that since mid-September. It’s old news now. I feel pretentious calling the following list “hacks,” like you’ve never thought of them before, but humor me for a little and pretend you haven’t. These are implementable techniques to make such times less hellish.

By: Ellice Ellis ‘20

To make my intro short; college is hard. Balancing massive amounts of free time, over 200 pages of reading, work-study, projects and personal issues is a lot for young adults to deal with. Consequently, there are going to be times where you miss class, slack on assignments and are just not up to this “getting a degree thing.” Out of all of this mess and confusion, your first bad grade might pop up.

By: Ellice Ellis ‘20

Anyway you frame it, preparing for finals can be stressful. Whether they come in the form of your normal tests, essays or other types of projects; these assessments are of the utmost importance because they reflect the hard work you’ve put in all semester and play a major role in your final grade. Personally, I’ve found myself stacked with studying, finishing projects, writing essays and completing other important personal tasks during this time. In addition to the stress there seems to be an attitude amongst many professors that their class assignments are the most important. Despite these tensions, here are five pieces of advice you can take into the next few weeks in order to reduce your stress and get your stuff together during this stressful time.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

The finals schedule is fast approaching, the Thanksgiving leftovers are running low, and my stress levels have soared to new heights. Whether this is your first semester at USC or your last, the last few days of school are always filled with group projects, essays, exams, (oh my!).

By: Samantha Romero ‘16

It’s that time of the semester again where after a sweet long break the end of the semester workload and finals pressure approaches. Here are some tips on how to turn that stress into success!

By: Judy Lee ‘17

There are undoubtedly a lot of interesting characters around finals week, but no reality show could ever beat the amount you’d see gathered in ye ‘ol Leavey library. Here are a few you may be familiar with: