AJ’s advice – surviving exam season
| May 12, 2012 | Posted by Alaa Jasim under AJ's Advice |
Once again, exam season is approaching. Students across the country are currently under ridiculous amounts of stress. You can just picture it: the tears, the tearing out of hair, the slow loss of sanity… no? Just me? Oh… The point is, exam season isn’t a nice time of year. It’s full of running around and revision, many of us lose any form of social life we once had, and everything comes to a standstill until exams are over. This means that you just end up bored and frustrated, which can’t be good for studying – so here are my top tips for surviving exam season.
Don’t stay cooped up
I’m certainly guilty of this, and as such I’m always being told to “get out more.” It’s hard to find the time to leave the house during exam season, but going out and getting some air or seeing friends every now and then is really important. Staying in the whole time will drive you insane, and you’ll probably just get sick of your own house. Not a very good place to be, really. So make sure you leave the house and take breaks.
Stay calm
Don’t panic when you’re revising or working. Panic won’t help, and if anything you’ll probably get less work done. Take things step by step and keep calm while you’re doing it. Revise the things that you don’t know, and if you can’t remember them then don’t get frustrated or angry, just try again. As the saying goes: keep calm and carry on. Don’t do the spin-off of “now panic and freak out”. Don’t do it.
Stay healthy
Make sure that you get some exercise and you’re eating well. Being ill during exam season is a massive waste of time, so stay healthy. Don’t stay up till the wee hours trying to work: you need to make sure that your sleeping patterns are right so that when you have an exam you don’t arrive shattered and unable to focus. Eat well, sleep well, exercise when you can. You need to build in some time to relax as well as time to work really hard.
Keep to a timetable
I know a few of us are going on study leave this week. There’s nothing harder than motivating yourself to start revising, but keeping to a routine can actually make it much easier. If you miss an hour somewhere, make it up elsewhere; perhaps stick some catch-up sessions in there so that you know you’ll do it. Make sure you stick to your timetable if you make one, or it will be useless.
It’s far too easy to do the opposite of all these things, so you have to try very hard. You’ve got to make sure you make time for yourself to have fun, as well as working really hard for your exams – but at the same time, don’t lose your focus.
That’s all from me. Don’t be a stranger and get in touch: questions and comments are as always welcome. See you next time!
if you think you should get out more and spend more time enjoying yourself with friends to take your mind off things, you should come to the picnic on the last day of term :3