Uni is over for 2017! Well, almost. We have a few weeks + exam block to go and then we're free. I've learnt a hell of a lot about what it means to do university exams and get a result you're happy with, especially last sem. There's no one pushing you or telling you when or what to study, so you do end up walking in blind as a 1st year. I figure there's a tonne of people like me wanting to figure out how to make exam season work, and if you need a few pointers, keep reading.
S T A R T E A R L Y
By start early, I mean start any time before the exam eve as a bare minimum. I am well aware that if I tell you to start 3 weeks early, you're not going to. You've got assignments due and work shifts to do and revising is the last thing on your mind. I tend to start reviewing course content a week - two weeks before the exam and I tend to do fine by the time my test comes around. Split it up too, it's much easier to get it sorted with 15 minutes a day than 4 hours of cramming.
S T U D Y S M A R T E R N O T H A R D E R
Reading isn't doing you any favours, sorry. Neither is flicking through the powerpoint slides, or handwriting the notes. The best way to prepare for a written exam is practicing. Pull some questions out of the text book and try to answer them, if you can't, then you know where your weaknesses are. You don't know what you don't know, if that makes sense. After you've figured out the gaps, fill them in with more focussed questions and answers. My uni tends to hand out a mock-exam for each subject and doing those makes all the difference in my confidence going in to the examination room.
S L E E P & W A T E R
Keep yourself healthy! It's incredibly simple to fall into the trap of staying up till 4am finishing assignments but this is the worst cycle. When you're tired and dehydrated, you're crabby, you lose your filter, your cognitive throughput slows down (the reason it takes 10 times longer to do things when you're tired), and your critical thinking skills are impaired. All of these things suck for you and the people around you, so do yourself a solid and get a water bottle and get your 8 hours.
L O G O U T
Facebook is my worst enemy going into exam season. I am a serial scroller and every notification gets checked, and that's not a good thing. It doesn't help that I have friends that tag me in things every 2 minutes
F I N D Y O U R S P A C E
If you work well at home, work at home. If you enjoy the background noise of a cafe, go find yourself a table. If you work well of the energy of other people, go to your institution's library and do as the post-grad student next to you is doing. Go to the place that puts you in the right mood, the aesthetics of the space around you truly make a difference, trust me.
R O C K U P T O E X A M S O N T I M E
Holy hell this is important. I have a friend who's train broke down on the way to an economics exam, and that kind of pressure is no fun at all. If you rock up late, you run the risk of not being let into the exam, forgetting materials, or being flustered the whole time you're working. When you get there early, you have time to find the room, prepare well, relax and do your final revision. I know this seems like common knowledge but just making sure you are there on time or even earlier will ease your mind and let you focus on the task at hand.
R E W A R D Y O U R S E L F
Once it's over, it's time to celebrate. The worst is over, and all you have to do now is get your grades back, but that shouldn't keep you up at night because you were prepared and ready this exam season. Relax, you've earnt it! Either with chocolate, cocktails, movies or a well deserved nap, ring in your holiday break with style.
Hope this helped! Enjoy the uni break! This is actually part two of a series on this blog about uni - so if you want another Rookie's Guide about uni, send me a topic and I'll see what rookie advice I can give you.
Em xo
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