It’s almost the end of the term and that can only mean one thing: it’s exam season. While exams can be stressful and intense, if you prepare properly there is no need to be worried! Think of all the students who have gone ahead of you and been successful, you’re just as smart and motivated as them. They succeeded, which means you can too. One difference between people who succeed in school, and those who don’t, is preparation. The great thing though, is that preparation can be learned by anyone. By following these 5 tips you can make sure you succeed and are well prepared for exam season.
Get Things Done Now
During exam season, you probably have a tight schedule and have no time for extra tasks. Take advantage of the term winding down now to get those extra things you need to do, done. For example, if you have a project or assignment that is due during exam season, now is the perfect time to work on it. Getting things done can clear your head and you’ll be less stressed about the exam season.
Check the Exam Schedule
The exam schedule is your key to success; the earlier you check it the better. If there are any exams close together, you know these are the ones you need to focus on and prepare properly for. Alternatively, if they are too close together, it’s very possible your university has policies that could get the exam rescheduled for a better time for you. Checking the exam schedule also lets you know what exams you need to start with and allows you to block study time.
Block Time for Studying
Planning time for you to study is another key to success. Cramming is never a good way to learn things and if you’re anything like me it only leads to more stress and less studying. By planning time to study ahead you can avoid that last-minute cram and get better grades. The other benefit is that by spreading your studying out it gets a lot easier to do. Sitting down and studying for hours on end is a difficult task and makes it hard to study. However, if you’ve planned study blocks properly, you can study for 15-30 minutes in each session making the studying much easier and allowing you to take lots of breaks and reduce your stress.
Block One Thing at a Time
It is tempting to study two different subjects in a study session. It is even more tempting to skim through a single course multiple times and consider it studied. Avoid this! Break down your subject into manageable chunks and concepts. Focus on a single concept for a small chunk of time, then move on once you have a good grasp of it. If you break down your course into 20 key concepts, then spend 10 minutes studying each one throughout a single day, you’ll spend 3-5 hours total studying for an exam and know a huge portion of the course. In the time in between these study blocks you can relax and take care of yourself, keeping your stress down is very important.
Plan Now
All of these techniques only work if you can plan enough ahead to implement them properly. If you don’t plan ahead you won’t leave enough time to study properly and will instead, cram. Your brain understands things best if you give it time to process information. You can spend less time total studying if you space out that time properly. So don’t waste any time, don’t put it off until later. Right now, spend 10 minutes and block out a schedule. You will thank yourself later when you breeze through exams with less stress. You’ve got this! Go Plan!