       A college exam can be hard and scary. Preparing for a college exam can be easy and help make you feel ready to crush the exam, just by doing a few simple items before the test comes up. I know walking into an exam causes many people’s hands to feel clammy, neck to feel stiff and heart to be racing. You often see student’s cramming as much information into their heads right before the exam, coffee, and snacks in hand. This does not have to be what happens each and every time someone is getting ready to take an important college exam. Within the past year and a half as I have been a college student, I have found that studying is not the only important part of preparing for a college exam. Instead, eating healthy, drinking lots of water and getting enough sleep are all essential components for self-care and success in preparing for the exam.
       Studying comes up first when a person thinks of taking a test. Retaining the information is the goal of studying and can help in future classes or daily life. Studying can be done in a variety of ways such as through flashcards, rewriting notes, being with classmates and quizzing each other or even watching Crash Course videos. If enough information is not remembered, a person often feels stressed and worried as to how they will do on their exam. Therefore, repetition and consistency in effective work environments is necessary for a person to learn, study and retain the information needed for the college exam. Along with studying, self-care is important in order to help deal with the emotions an individual may be dealing with.
       Eating healthy, drinking lots of water and getting enough sleep are all very important the few days leading up to an exam. Although it may seem hard to eat healthy, that doesn’t mean you have to restrict yourself from eating. I tend to eat lots of snacks when I am stressed or bored. That means that when I am studying I often feel as though I want a snack (or five). Instead of chips, candy and ice cream try to eat pretzels, popcorn, or fruit. These are some of my favorite snack-time picks. In addition, being a coffee lover myself I tend to drink WAY too much coffee and very little water. Lately, I have been trying to drink a lot more water or sparkling water products. This has helped to make me feel so much more alert and energetic as opposed to just drinking coffee. My favorite part is that I have an excuse to get to sleep. Instead of trying to study until the wee hours of the night, I always try to get to bed early enough to get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep that night. I have found that all of these are easy tactics to use when it comes to preparing for a college exam and that not only is studying important in success, but self-care is as well. Trying to cram does not usually lead to information retention. Likely with final exams approaching, you will feel stressed, worried, or scared at times. Try to tune in to your body by giving it healthy food, lots of water and sleep as well as new learned knowledge.