‘Tis the season for final exams across all university, college, and high school campuses. While you may be experiencing feelings of stress and anxiety, you’re not the only one. Many students put themselves through all-nighters and drink bottomless cups of coffee as a result. It doesn’t help that your social life is probably on pause at the moment, too.
The silver lining? A post-exam break is right around the corner. You can take this time to treat yourself to as much sleep, travel, and time with friends as you can possibly squeeze in! In the meantime, here are five tips to help you survive exam season and pass with flying colours.
1. Stay Organized
Staying organized is possibly the most important tip we can give you. If you’re organized, you’ll reduce your stress levels significantly. Write things down—whether on a sticky note, calendar, or in your planner—such as when you get more information about each of your exams, like time and location.
If your professor shares what kinds of questions you may find on the exam, write them down. There’s nothing worse than missing key details. In addition, writing things down makes it much easier to visualize your daily study schedule. Allocate a certain amount of study time for each course. When it’s over, you can cross it off like you would a grocery list. This will give you a sense of accomplishment and motivate you to complete your next task.
2. Reward Yourself
Give yourself some type of incentive when studying. This can be time to see friends, a movie, a night out—whatever it is, give yourself a reward for working so hard. It can even be something as simple as a short study break! By giving yourself rewards, you motivate yourself to keep going. Incentives also keep things exciting as you’re giving yourself something to look forward to after you reach certain goals or complete an exam.
3. Study with Friends
Similar to incentives, studying with friends can (oddly enough) make exam season fun. In fact, it can be very motivating to discuss course material with others. It also helps you remember key information. You can absorb information better when discussing it with others, perhaps things you didn’t already know or understand.
Finally, studying with friends keeps you focused. However, be careful when studying with your pals, as it can be distracting. However, this depends entirely on your study group. If you’re spending more time discussing what you plan to do after exams than the material that might be on the exam, you might consider choosing another group to study with, or studying on your own.
4. Sleep, Sleep, Sleep
Don’t forget to take good care of yourself during this time of year. By getting a good night’s rest, you’re helping your body to refuel for the next day. If you skip out on sleep, you’ll begin to feel exhausted and will burn out quickly, which will negatively impact your studies. Let your mind rest so it can retain more information when you begin studying again. Sleep boosts your productivity levels, which is necessary to make it through exam season.
5. Focus
It’s easy to get distracted and procrastinate. We know you don’t necessarily want to study. In fact, most times you want to do anything but study. Unfortunately, there’s no getting around this one, you’re going to have to do it. The more you focus on the task at hand, the more you can celebrate your little victories.
It’s easy to lose motivation when certain friends end their exams sooner than you. If this is the case, forget what others are doing and focus on what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Keep your eye on the prize (a good grade) and find comfort in knowing that it’ll be over sooner than you think.
Studying for exams can be challenging, but using these tips can help you ace your finals. Good luck!
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