How are we all feeling? With exam season on the horizon, it’s easy to get swept up in the stress of it all. But we want to encourage you (although its easier said than done) to relax your routine a little: we’re going to show you how to master the exam season the Clever way. Read on for our top tips on making this season that little bit more manageable.
Take Regular Breaks
First things first, and it’s pretty self-explanatory, take enough breaks. Many study methods encourage you to sit and work for such extended periods of time, but that doesn’t always work for everyone. Obviously, you understand your limitations more than we do, so tweak it to fit your routine. Regular breaks will help you to focus more when you return to your study session and allow you that necessary breather to stop you from burning out entirely.
Burnout is the last thing you want just before exams and spacing those breaks out should help you manage it.
If you need some help with managing your time and when to actually take said breaks, we recommend an app called Focus Tomato that allows you to customise a specific timer to keep you focused for a specific amount of time before alerting you that you’re ready for a break. It also has a cool option to play some calming music.
Relax Plenty
Once your study session is finished for the day, it’s always super tempting to get straight onto social media or anything involving more screen time, but we would recommend taking a moment to yourself to fully rest after focusing so much. Perhaps it might be a good time to read a few chapters of a book you’ve been meaning to pick up, listen to some music that you enjoy or even spend some time with friends or family. Something that will help you unwind for a while before you pick up a screen again.
These moments of calm between letting your brain go into focused mode will really help you recover in-between study sessions and therefore power you through the rest of the season. It can be so mentally exhausting sometimes when screens are the constant focus of the day, so definitely be sure to opt for some time away from them.
Have Some Fun Between Study Sessions
Our last tip might sound a little out of left field but bear with us, it’s actually super important during this time to mix up your study days with some fun. Go out for the day, take a daytrip somewhere, get on the train and explore. Meet up with some friends for a picnic or simply have a movie day. Something that will allow you to really step away from those studies for a moment, to let your mind breathe. Laughing and enjoying the time with friends or family will recharge you plenty, so that when you return to the pile of work on the desk, it won’t feel like so much of a mountain.
Exam seasons should never be stressful, we think, and sure, there’s always going to be an element of stress to it, but hopefully these tips will help alleviate it just a little bit. Perhaps if you want to further your mastering of exam season, you could take a look at our post on managing your sleep schedule?