Exam Season Stress
The end of the second term is upon us and exams lurk just around the Easter break. There’s just so much to revise for and so many essays to do in that time that it can be unsurprisingly overwhelming. We’re all in the same boat trying to catch up from last term and getting in a break as well, so it’s important to plan your time well before the start of term 3. If you’re looking for some revision structure inspiration, I have a few tips and tricks that may be perfect for you.
Rest.
Second term was definitely a jump from first term; the workload increased, society activities increased and juggling it all became that much harder. It’s important to take some time out to have a breather and regain your energy in order to do your revision. Don’t try and overdo it because you’ll end up more than burnt out by the time university starts up again. Maybe just take a week to relax wherever you are; if that’s with family, enjoy being at home again, if you’re on campus, perhaps explore the city. Just try to do something unrelated to uni and societies and work to revamp your spirit.
Structure.
Now that you’re rested up, break down the 4 weeks left until uni into manageable chunks. If you’re behind on content, spend a week catching up on everything you need to. Split your days so that you maximise your focus time, ensuring you allow yourself to have several breaks in between.
This may look like doing content for a module for an hour after breakfast, then taking a 15-minute break, then repeating this again – making sure to have lunch and dinner too.
You could also focus on different modules on different days of the week. Set goals for yourself at the beginning of each day, and at the end of the day, reward yourself if you’ve completed them. The reward will depend on what you like and the kind of person you are.
If you feel you won’t be able to hold yourself accountable very well, ask someone you trust to help you with it – whether that’s hiding away your favourite cookies until you can prove you’ve done all your work for the day or any other way that works for you.
After this week, the real grind starts. Going over everything you’ve learnt this year is a big task, and one you probably won’t be able to do in this time frame. There are a number of ways to approach this:
- Focus on your weakest areas
- Focus on the oldest content you learnt
- Focus on practice papers
Method 1. brings all your knowledge onto equal ground, but you’d have to make sure you still keep up with your stronger content to keep it that way.
Method 2. refreshes your knowledge on term 1 content, because if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve forgotten a lot of it.
Method 3. puts your current knowledge to the test, and from there you can identify which areas need more work. With the other methods, it’s still important to do past papers and practice questions, however they focus more on learning and revision than this one.
If you have another method that works for you that isn’t one of these three, 100% use that instead and feel free to share them in the comments.
Exercise.
It’s also important to include exercise into your structure as not only is this great healthwise, but it’s also amazing mental-healthwise. You’ll find yourself concentrating better after some fresh-air, workout, run, dog-walk or whatever you choose to get your heart rate up and body worked. Include these at the beginning, middle, or end of your working days to give your body the exercise it needs.
If you don’t plan ahead of time for this holiday, you’re less likely to get everything done, so it’s important to organise yourself and your time. You don’t have to follow this exactly, but once you’ve figured out what works for you, something that you’re fairly confident you are going to stick to, then you have all you need to prepare yourself for term 3.
