Written by Shona and Emily

Okay so it’s coming up to exam season and that’s probably the most stressful time in any student’s life. The utter panic when you realise that 9am seminar you skipped WAS important and that you now have to cram an entire year’s worth of knowledge into two weeks. So we’ve come up with our top 5 exam season tips!

1) Be organised!
It’s even harder to revise when your lecture notes are strewn around your room and none of your module work is together. Take a few hours to organise and categorise your notes. It makes revision so much quicker! Also, make sure you check where and when your exams are.  It might sound basic but honestly, it is so much harder to revise when you don’t know when your deadline is!

2) Snacking
For us, snacking is a huge issue. I can easily go through several bars of chocolate in one revision session. Emily isn’t so bad, but hunger definitely strikes after the third hour of staring at a powerpoint presentation. Snacking is good and helpful, just make sure you’re snacking on the right things. Fruit, cereal bars and healthy biscuits are all great snacks, they contain enough sugar to keep your brain active without sending you into a 3pm sugar crash.

3) Exercise
Exercise is proven to help stimulate the brain and relax you. Even 40 minutes in the gym will help you calm down and focus again. The best thing about exercise is that you can still revise while doing it. I’ve listened to loads of lectures on my phone while jogging. It really helps to unwind and stay healthy.

4) Actual revision
It can be so hard to start revising and even harder to know how to revise. One of the best ways that we find is to review your lecture notes and condense them into a learnable format. Hand written revision notes help you to remember better than typed ones, so put the MacBook away and grab a pen. Another easy way is revision cards. Write the question on one card and the answer on the other, then try and match them all up once you’re done. It’s weird how much it helped me to remember in my EU exam! Also, try to avoid the library at peak times. Not only is it hugely busy, it’s always warm and smells like feet after lunch anyway.

5) Relax!
Despite what tutors and lecturers drum into you, exams aren’t life or death. As long as you prepare well and try your best, you’ll do great. Overstressing makes you panic more and then you’ll forget all your revision. Try not to revise later than 7pm and do things you enjoy to take your mind off revision for a bit.

We hope this helped! Check out our blog for other posts about student life: www.skint-students.blogspot.co.uk

Good luck!