After spending a month celebrating Christmas and New Year, the last thing you want to do is go back to University and deal with exams. It can be a real downer on the fun time you’ve had at home and the stress of revision and panic of being in the right room at the right time can sometimes be too much to handle. Deep breath, it isn’t the end of the world having exams. At some point in our life we will all have to sit them, so here are my 5 top tips to help get you through your exam blues.
Preparing for Exams
Where to study: Sometimes, where to study can be just as important as what you are studying. You need to find a place where you feel relaxed but can also concentrate. Some people may find that working in the quiet section of the library will be more beneficial, whereas others may find they’re more productive sitting at home in bed with their laptop. You have to work out what is best for you.
Get into a routine: It’s really easy to procrastinate when you’re revising for exams. We have all done it where we think to ourselves “Oh, I’ll just quickly check Facebook and see how everyone else is getting along” and three hours later realised we’ve done nothing. If you get yourself into a routine of taking regular breaks during your revision, you’ll find that you will become a lot more productive.
What to study: It has been proven that when you first sit down to study your concentration is at its highest. So while it may be more fun to revise something you enjoy, give yourself the task of looking at those boring and hard topics that really don’t interest you. You may find that if you start with the boring and hard topics, the rest of the day may seem like a piece of cake!
Look after yourself
Balanced diet: Keeping a healthy balanced diet will help you concentrate more on your work and retain more information. The natural vitamins in healthy food, such as fish, have been proven to help increase memory efficiency. It will also make you feel a lot happier instead of eating fatty foods.
Sleep and Relaxation: As difficult as it sometimes, try and go to bed at a regular time. Try not to stay up all hours of the night revising because your productivity will not be as good as it would be if you manage to have a good night sleep and wake up refreshed in the morning.
Exercise: Exercise releases endorphins, we all know that! So use this information to your advantage. The Edge has so many different exercise classes to suit all abilities, all of them lasting no more than an hour. Getting yourself out the house will give you a break from revision and help you relax.
Have a look at their timetable here: https://sportsbookings.leeds.ac.uk/onlinebookings
Reward yourself
The exam period does not need to be about revising every hour of the day – treat yourself every now and then. For example, if you say to yourself “I will go out and see a friend if I manage to do 3 hours of revision” you’ll encourage yourself to do the work and you will get to go and see your friends. Or it could even be something small, such as once you’ve read through a topic you can treat yourself to some chocolate.
Exam Day
Be positive: If you go into your exam with a positive outlook then it will help you approach the exam more positively. If you go into the exam stressing then you will start to panic and may end up missing some vital information that could cost you those precious marks.
Get there early: One of the worst things is rushing to an exam. Not only will it cause unnecessary stress, it’s also just a little bit stupid! Check the night before where your exam is going to be and give yourself plenty of time to arrive at your destination, especially if it somewhere that you have never been to before.
DO NOT PANIC! Take a deep breath. You have put the hard work in and there’s only a couple of hours until it is all over and you don’t need to think about it again (unless you fail, but I have faith that you can do this!)
Celebrate
Once all the exam stress is over and done with, go out and celebrate. You deserve it! Even if you don’t think the exam has gone as well as it could have done, there is no point in worrying about it. What’s done is done. So go out with your friends and celebrate having the freedom of no lectures, no revision and no exams. After the stress of the last couple of weeks (or months if you’re an eager beaver) the first thing you need to do is relax and unwind.
Or you could just do what I did, and pick all modules that don’t have exams! Good luck!
Image Sources:
1. http://belfastgms.org/site/2011/05/exam-stress-2/
2. http://www.study-habits.com/category/exam-taking
3. http://feval.info/html5devconf…