Struggling to concentrate as the tidal wave of fun that is Christmas starts to hit? Too busy paperchaining to open that textbook? Sat in the library watching videos of a cat being wrapped in tinsel instead of doing work? Been there, literally doing that right now. But I can help. With these five study tips youâll have your nose out of the mince pies and back to the grindstone in no time.
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   1. Create a Revision Timetable
By this, I donât mean create an enormous spreadsheet with carefully colour coded boxes for each different module, and every hour of your time up until your exam meticulously accounted for. Just creating this monster would take up a lot of valuable time, and we all know weâre not going to stick to it anyway. (Cut to me at 9am on New Yearâs Day, wondering why on earth I thought now would be a good time for me to start revising differential equations.) However, we are creatures of habit. If we know that on a Saturday morning, weâre a slovenly beast that wonât get out of bed till noon no matter what, allow yourself that lie in if youâre prepared to actually get a few hours work done in the afternoon. Personally, Iâm much more productive in the afternoon than the morning, so thatâs when I schedule in âwork timeâ, and organise my other commitments around that. If I start at 2pm instead of 1pm, thatâs not a problem as long as I still do the 3 hours that I promised myself.
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   2. Have a clear motivation for why you want those particular grades
Aside from the obvious reason that nobody wants to be ruining their August with retakes. But maybe you have the holiday of a lifetime planned, and the cheapest flights are over the summer exams. Then you have both a reminder of why you need to be studying, and also something that you want to work towards. Maybe your parents are always on your case, and you know that if you finally get that first theyâll back off for once, or perhaps you just want to know that you tried your absolute best. Whatever the reason is, sometimes itâs necessary to have something that will nudge you out of bed and towards the textbooks.
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   3. Study nearish to your friends
Studying in a group may work for some, but personally working with my friends is a hard pass from me. Even if Iâm in the silent area with someone I know, Iâm going to get distracted, but perhaps Iâm easier to disturb than other people. However, agreeing to meet someone at the library does mean that youâll be forced to actually walk up the hill to Uni, instead of pressing next episode for the fourth time on Netflix. Plus, you can weave social time in with your revision, taking breaks at the same time as your friends, which might motivate you to work harder during your allotted study time. The danger is of course that youâll just never go back into the study area, and count your hour and a half in the cafe as âproductive revision timeâ. So studying as ânearishâ to your friends as you can is my advice. For me that means Beacon House, while all my mates are in the ASS (seriously, Iâm so easy to distract).
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   4. Stop Studying
This might be the most important revision technique of them all. Learn when to stop. If youâve been sat in the same seat for six hours, staring at the same slide of a powerpoint, please just close the laptop. Itâs not going to go in without a set of fresh eyes. And for that, whether you need to go for a walk, have a nap or watch a few episodes of Friends, youâre going to need to stop working. If you sit down with all your beautifully written notes, and your brain just canât seem to turn on, thatâs fine. Step away, come back later. Even if you feel like youâve wasted a day, long term itâll be worth it. (Obviously donât go overkill with this and donât never study just because you âdonât feel like it.â Unfortunately for us humans, we havenât evolved enough to be able to sleep with a book under our pillows and learn by osmosis.)
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   5. Reward Yourself
If youâve done a particularly great day of revision, and youâve completed all the tasks you set for yourself, take the evening off. Buy yourself those earrings youâve been wanting for weeks, have a drink with friends, enjoy the cinema. As Christmas draws closer, there are plenty of fun things to do in Bristol, from the markets to the ice rink, hot chocolate by the harbour to a frosty stroll across the bridge. Remember that itâs nearly the holidays, and treat yourself.
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Revision is not going to last forever, itâs just a matter of organising your time so that you can get work done, but also enjoy these last few days with uni pals before you head back home. And if youâre really struggling with balancing everything, Iâm sure no one will bat an eyelid at a flat xmas dinner in the library – as long as itâs not the silent area, crackers arenât the quietest.