At Seton Hall, finals week is like a different universe. The days pass by without distinction, meals are no longer important, and the library starts to feel even closer to you than your own bedroom.
The same look of exhaustion and stress is on people’s faces. Suddenly, everyone has a method they swear will help you do your work: cold showers, breathing exercises, and strict phone rules. They are productivity tricks found at 1 a.m. that are treated like gospel afterwards.
Eventually, my stress got so high that even logging into Canvas felt like a personal attack, and I decided to give up the pretense of having a system.
Instead, I took one complete finals week to test five different stress hacks that students recommend to see which works when deadlines pile up, sleep is out of the question, and the only thing left is a very fragile sense of motivation.
Cold Showers
I started the week with a cold shower before my first exam, which can only be described as a very humbling experience.
I was under the freezing water at a time when no college student should be awake, and I was waiting for clarity to come.
It did not.
However, I got the abrupt awareness that one should not go through such an experience to develop one's character. I still came out of the shower feeling wide awake and alert, but a bit miffed as well.
Breathing Exercise
Later on, I tried the 4-7-8 breathing exercise outside the library before my literature class. It is a breathing technique, rooted in the yogic practice of pranayama, that is meant to calm the mind and body. You start by inhaling through your nose for 4 counts. Then, hold for 7 counts and exhale for 8 counts.
Theoretically, it is supposed to be calming.
However, in practice, taking deep breaths in a public place during finals makes you look like you’re getting ready for something really important. I was silently counting, concentrating on my breath, and trying not to think about the several people who walked by and did not bother to make eye contact with me, possibly out of worry.
Phone Jail
After my breathing exercise, that night I decided on a strict rule for myself: no phone after 11 p.m. It seemed more like emotional torture than self-care.
I put my phone on my desk with the screen facing down and looked at it as if it would change positions by itself. Every instinct within me urged me to see one last notification.
Instead, I laid on my bed and made up that nothing important had ever taken place after 11 p.m., which was true, but at the same time, a lie that was necessary for surviving the night.
Meditation
Midweek, I tried walking meditations around campus with no music, no phone, just walking slowly with my thoughts.
What was meant to be grounding soon turned into an internal summary of everything that I had not yet studied.
I kept walking in circles and pretending that I was going somewhere, hoping no one would notice that I was going through a deep spiral under the disguise of mindfulness. Yet, still, it was strangely reassuring to get the pace of life down amidst the turmoil.
Buddy Study Sessions
By the end of the week, I turned to TikTok Pomodoros, the silent study sessions where strangers work beside you for 25 minutes at a time.
Contrary to all my expectations, it worked. There was something about the algorithm watching me that created a kind of accountability I never knew I needed.
I remained attentive, baulked at scrolling, and had an odd feeling of kinship with those who would never know they helped me through finals week.
Each stress hack is not only ranked according to its effectiveness but also to how realistic it was during finals, the emotional damage it caused, and whether it genuinely helped or just made me feel productive.
The common reality of finals week at SHU is the quiet panic, the collective fight, and the strange comfort of realizing that everybody else is just as stressed out.
This survival guide is about managing stress just enough to make it through finals week intact, using whatever habits, rituals, or coping mechanisms that get you there.
Ishal Chhipa is a writer for The Setonian’s Opinion section. She can be reached at ishal.chippa@student.shu.edu.
