Exams: How to deal with the stress and the studying

Well I am back! It has been a while. There are a few reasons why I have been gone for a few months, but none of them are super important so I’m going to just go straight into a new blog post about exams :)

So I just had my first exams at university and I know many people either have just had exams, or are going to have exams some time in the next few weeks. So I thought I give you guys a list of exams tips to help you survive this stressful time :)

Top 10 exam tips

• Find out which study method works for you: There are so many different study methods available but you really need to find out what works for you, because if you’re not using a method that you find effective and easy then you’re not going to get anywhere. Do some research on different types of study methods, try them out and see which you like best. Studying is a learning process (see what I did there?). Personally the method I use is the 4x 50/10 method, where you study for 50 minutes then take a 10 minute break, repeat this 4 times then take a longer break, roughly 30-40 minutes. Also try to figure out if you’re the type of person who learns better from watching videos, reading, or what ever else. For example I learn best from watching videos, so I prefer to re-watch my lectures than go through my lecture notes.

• Eat well: The food you eat can make a difference to your brain and you alertness, and therefore how much you manage to get done. Of course you should always be eating well but during your exam period pay extra attention to what you’re eating. Eat foods that will boost your brainpower and help you study, such as: fish, blueberries, broccoli, nuts. Something that goes hand-in-hand with this tip is: drink plenty of water. It will make you feel more alert and so you’ll be able to get more done. If you’re feeling sluggish and you feel like you can’t study any more, drink some water and it will really help you feel more awake.

• Get plenty of sleep: I cannot stress this enough. You will not do yourself any favours by staying up late and getting up early. You might think you’re getting more studying done if you stay up later but your brain needs lots of sleep to function so if you’re not getting enough sleep, the next day your brain won’t take in as much information. Trust me, it will not help you in the long run to get little sleep. Take care of yourself, mentally and physically.

• Don’t overwork yourself: This kind of connects to the previous tip. If you work late into the night and try to study for 7 hours straight, at one point you’ll stop taking in information. Listen to your body; if you’re feeling tired, take a break, drink some water or have something to eat. Of course you should try to keep working and keep motivated and not just stop working every time you don’t feel like doing something. But don’t push your limits too far, it will only make things worse in the long run. Make sure you take breaks and again just take care of yourself.

• Exercise: Exercise can help you feel more awake and can boost your brain power, so make sure to do a little bit of exercise either in the morning before you start studying or going for a walk in the middle of the day when you’re energy starts to dip to make you feel a little more alert.

• Study with other people: Studying with other people can really help you understand the material better and it can help you to remember everything better. So find some people, test each other, go over the information together, it will really help. Try to explain some concepts or information to people, if you can explain it to other people then you obviously know quite well yourself. If you can’t find people from your course to study with then get a family member or really anyone else to test you.

• Focus on the most important and the hardest: Try to focus on the most important points that will be on the exam, these will most likely have been mentioned in the lecture. Depending on what type of exam you have (open answer or multiple choice) even if you don’t know the smallest details you can still get by as long as you know the most important points. Also try to start with the information you find the most challenging, chances are you know the easier stuff better so focus on really understanding the more challenging information because if you know that, you’ll know it all. Get someone to explain it to you, re-watch the lectures, go over your notes or write it out in a way that makes more sense. One way or other you’ll get it to make sense and it suddenly won’t seem so difficult anymore!

• During the exam: Once you’re actually doing your exam bring water (it will help keep you alert) and bring plenty of pens. You may look a little silly sitting with 10 pens on your desk but there is nothing more stressful than having a pen stop working in the middle of an exam. If you can bring snacks, then do because it definitely won’t help if you’re hungry during the exam.

• Final tip: Don’t stress too much. I know it’s easier said than done, but freaking out before an exam isn’t going to help. Just take a few deep breaths, drink some water and just realise that you’ve now studied everything you can and the only thing to do is to ace that exam. Because you definitely will ace the exam. Don’t worry too much about whether you’re going to fail or forget everything or whatever else you’re worrying about. Just focus on the exam and do the best you can.

I hope this was helpful, and I hope your exam period won’t be too awful (even though exams always are). Just study hard and do your best and everything will be fine. Don’t stress! :)

Until next time! x