Study Tips – Managing Yourself Around Exams

Hello everyone! This week, I was really stuck on what to write. I’m fairly sure its because of a combination of stressing for exams in the upcoming weeks, and the start of the Christmas season for work! So I figured, why not share my tips and experiences with studying and exams, and how I manage myself this time of the year. I understand that in different countries school starts and finishes at different times in the year, but in Australia we start school around the start of February and finish mid-December (with breaks in between of course), and for uni it typically starts the start of March, and ends mid-November (split into two semesters). This means that now, yearlies are amongst us for almost all students. Hope you enjoy!

• Plan Out Your Days – One thing I always find is that if I don’t have an idea of what I’m doing during the day, I don’t get very much done. As I am quite an organised person, and actually get frustrated if I don’t know what’s going on, this is vital for me. Throughout the year, but particularly around exams, I plan out what’s on, and what I need to do. I do this with my diary all throughout the year, and also have a weekly planner so I can pencil in and plan out assignments. Especially for my exams though, I simply printed out a monthly calendar of November and December, so I could see when my exams were, what shifts I had, days I had submitted as unavailable for work, and then general things I had on, such as Christmas parties, birthdays, and appointments. I then colour coded it, and can visually see a glance of my months. Another thing I did during HSC a couple of years ago (this is the final exams for year 12 – quite important!) was similar to this, but I split up all my study and allocated it time. This way I could allow myself days off, and spread my work for each subject out across the days. This level of planning may not work for everyone, and I will talk about that a bit later.
• Work Out What Needs To Be Done – No matter how much you plan your days, if you don’t actually know what is required for your exams/assignments, it won’t be of much benefit. For all assignments, we receive a notification/outline detailing what is required, and the mark allocations. I use these to write out exactly what I need to write about, or what I need to research/put together. After finishing this post, I am about to do this for my exams, as I need to cover specific aspects of the course content, and this will help get me in the subject mindset set, and direct my focus.
• Take Breaks – This is one of my most important tips, and whenever I talk to people about exams, I always encourage this! If you don’t maintain a work-life balance, you will eventually burn out, and if you sit in the same spot for too long, you’ll lose focus, and the time and energy spent trying to work will be useless. I typically schedule my breaks around my study plans, typically completing work for one subject, or one specific section, and then taking a short break. An example was the other day, where I had notes to do for four topics. I did the first two, which were for the same subject and shorter than the other two, and then took a small break. I then did another topic, which was larger, then stopped for lunch, and then completed the last topic. This structure allows me to separate my focus between subjects and topics without everything getting blurred, and ensures I am stopping and taking some time away from uni work. This could involve checking social media, taking a walk outside, or eating. However you decide to take your breaks is up to you, but I believe it is vital! Something I found quite useful was this post on Uni Junkee. It was technically about how to complete an essay on the last day, however I used it for an essay that was due a couple of days later, and it worked really work. The whole concept was about working for 52 minutes, then taking a 17 minute break, and repeating this, but doing a body paragraph in each block, then the intro and conclusion at the end. I feel like it was good as it forced me to take breaks, but also stopped me from getting distracted from what I was writing, as I convinced myself that the paragraph had to be done in that time. I was pleasantly surprised at this, and the essay actually turned out quite well, just need to wait for the marks now!
• Find What Works For You – While these tips, and other posts similar to this, may be helpful, not everything works for everyone. You need to experiment with different techniques, levels of organisation, and study spaces to find what works for you. While I like having music playing in the background, and being able to spread my stuff everywhere at home, others need silence and prefer libraries. It takes a bit of trial and error, but in the end, when you find strategies that suit your personality and work ethic, that will result in the best outcome!

Thank you all for reading, and I hope that these tips help in some way. Good luck to anyone who is currently about to complete exams, and otherwise, have a good week! 🙂