The Techie’s Guide to Surviving Finals

By Shea Garner

A week filled with studying, essays, tests, and procrastination can be stressful for any college student, not to mention the fact that taking a break from boozing is almost as tough as the finals themselves. But let’s be real, we know you aren’t spending all of your time hitting the books, and for most of us, a good portion of that “study” time goes towards procrastination and watching videos of cute puppies. Here are four gadgets and apps to ease the pain of finals week.

Website-blocking apps | Applications like LeechBlock for Firefox and other web browsers provide a way to stop (or help reduce) procrastination. If you find yourself checking Facebook every five minutes while trying to study, just add the domain to the app and block it for a few hours. No promises on the porn blocker, though.

E-book readers | Having trouble sifting through all your books and papers? E-book readers like the Kindle and iPad are great ways to cut down on paper and organize all your material onto one screen. Just don’t let anyone catch you skimming through the latest Fabio romance novel on it.

Voice recorder | An electronic voice recorder is a great way to help prepare and study. Reciting important information and playing it back can definitely help in memorization, especially if you’re an oral learner (get your mind out of the gutter). Warning: freestyling to the latest Weezy song could get you kicked off of the fifth floor of Bird pretty quickly.

Bose headphones | No study session is complete without some form of music. The right beats can ease the pain and stress of studying and help cheer you up from any case of graduation-is-looming blues. A pair of large ear-cupping headphones like this Bose AE2 headset can also drown out the sound of your crazy roommates funneling a victory beer after their last finals. Ugh, fucking humanities majors.

Any other gadgets you use to get through these next two weeks of hell? Comment below.