It's one month until exams begin (yikes). So here are some tips to get you through the draining thought of studying for them.
The start of this semester may feel like yesterday. Yet, you may also be thinking as of now: “There are only a few weeks left before the start of exam period, what am I supposed to do?”
Well first off don’t panic, because Radar is here to give you some of the best tips to cope with your exams in December and any exam you may have to face in the future.
So here are some of our top tips to deal with exam-related stress:
1. Split your studying into manageable chunks
If you have not studied yet, then there is still plenty of time to do so. What is not recommended is to wait until last minute and study with an all-nighter. For one, you would be exhausted for the day of the exam and two, you would make yourself even more stressed out than you need to be. What we would recommend is to split up the time you have available into bits that hopefully will reduce the stress you may be feeling. For example, instead of having to study for 3 to 4 hours all at once, why don’t you split your day into half-hour or hour-long chunks spread multiple days?
2. Practice some past papers if you can
What is recommended is to try and get a hold of some past papers and practice as many of them as you can. The more practice you get doing them, the higher the chance you have of remembering how to answer similar questions and doing well in your exams. You can attempt to find the past papers on Moodle under past papers of your subject areas. For example, under the School of Applied Social Studies, the past paper section as soon as you log in would be called ‘Past Exam Papers – School of Applied Social Studies’.
3. Give yourself time to recover from studying
As well as studying, it is vital giving yourself a break! Some things you could do during your break is to make yourself a hot drink, go out for a walk or play your favourite video game if you like gaming.
4. Have a time-plan in place and decide what studying methods suit you best
If you have not figured out which study methods suit you the most yet, now is the time to do so! Do you take in information well by doing past papers repeatedly? Do you take it in by watching educational YouTube videos or videos of your lectures? Do you prefer just listening to your lectures’ audio? Or do you like to read information from your notes and textbooks? However you prefer to do it, figuring out what type of learner you are will benefit you in this set of exams as well as any future exams.
5. Drink plenty of water and eat well
Having a good diet is essential to boost your concentration while you’re studying or doing exams. Drinking lots of water will prevent you from feeling lightheaded and ill. This is why it is extremely important to get the correct balance of dairy, starch and healthy omega 3 in your diet. This will also benefit you the long-term run, even outside of exams.
6. Find a quiet and suitable place to study
Studying in a quiet place with little or no distractions is a great way to focus and you will find yourself worry about nothing else. One of the best places to study is at home if there is a quiet room dedicated to studying or even at the Library at RGU if being at home distracts you. Some people like to listen to music while studying. That’s fine as well but be careful of the music you choose, so, it does not distract you.
It just shows you that everyone has got a wide variety of methods to study and preferences. All you have to do is to find yours. So that studying will get easier and you will be less stressed during exams.