Great news: Thanksgiving break is this week! That means spending time with our loved ones, stuffing ourselves with food and getting a much-needed break from the stress of school. Bad news: that also means that exam season is only a couple of short weeks away. Here’s how I get through the much-dreaded exam season in one piece.
1. Get plenty of sleep
During exams, it’s easy to stay up all night in Strozier studying for a test the next day. My number one goal is not to do that. As a college student, I need at least eight hours of sleep every night in order to be a productive human being. I know we all want to spend Thanksgiving break completely forgetting about school and our upcoming exams, but I try to spend 30 minutes to an hour every day of the break just looking over notes and beginning to recall what I’ve spent the past four months learning. By doing this, I’m able to cut down study time during exams by a few hours, as now I can spend that time going over the smaller details instead of general concepts. This way, I have a much better chance of getting to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour which will make me perform better on my exams.
2. Don’t isolate yourself
Whether you are talking to your friends about your favorite shows, their plans for winter break or how stressed you are about exams, talking to your friends for a little while every day will be a huge stress reliever and will make you feel much better overall. Humans are social beings, and if you spend your entire week stressed out alone on the fifth floor of Strozier, it will just make you feel worse. Even if it means getting a study group together for a couple of hours to study for an exam, you will still feel better after spending time with others.
3. Eat substantial meals
It’s super tempting to keep bags of chips in my backpack and make those my meals for the day, but I know better than to do that. Food is full of nutrients for my brain and if I’m not having substantial meals every day, I’m going to perform worse on my exams. By eating three healthy and nutritious meals every day, I retain more information while studying and am able to recall that information much more efficiently while taking tests. I know we think we do not have the time to make healthy meals every day, but it helps me to just go to the grocery store the weekend before and get ingredients to make a couple of big meals that will have plenty of leftovers for the week. This saves me time and makes my week more successful.
4. Make time for yourself
Write in your planner thirty minutes of self-care time every single day. Whether that is taking a bath, reading a good book, working out or whatever else you like to do that makes you happy, make the time for it. Taking some time for yourself every day will help relieve a bit of that stress that is overtaking you and will help you focus more easily once you get back to studying.
I know it is easy to be overtaken by the stress that exam season incites, but when I do these things, I have a much less anxiety-inducing week and am more successful in my endeavors. Finally, whether you do the same or not, you are going to kill it on your exams!
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and Pinterest!