Our study tips

With exams just around the corner we thought we’d put our study tips together to help those of you who need a bit of advice.

Jasmine – Plan your revision and think like your lecturer
Josh – Write it down, and you’ll actually get started
Thesia – Know How You Study Best
Niki – Feed your brain
LP – Be prepared and check your bag the night before

Good luck everyone!

Plan your revision and think like your lecturer

“I know we don’t want to be talking about exams after an abundance of Christmas meals and New Year celebrations, sorry to slap it in your face: exams are right around the corner!

I am a Humanities student and I only had one exam last school year, excluding my foreign language exams in French. That is why I thought I am not the best person to give advice but I still hope I might help you, a panicking student biting your nails, googling “How do I study everything in one night to pass my exam”.

1. Plan your revision

It is really important to know what will be on your exam and then schedule your revision accordingly. For instance, you did 11 chapters in term 1 and you know all 11 chapters will be in your exam. Depending on your study speed and time left, put those 11 chapters on your revision list and delicate an hour, a day or even a week for each chapter or section. Revision planning really helped me keep track of what I studied. I might not remember every single detail but at least I know I scanned through each part and I was less anxious before my exams.

2. Think like your lecturer

Before each exam, I tried to come up with essay questions I think the lecturer might include in the exam. I would do this after I finished most of my revision. I was able to revisit several important parts I was unsure of regarding to the sample essay questions I came up with. It was not always accurate but I was more familiar with my syllabus and I was more prepared for my exams. If you want to know how I came up with these sample essay questions, leave a comment below and I will give you more details.

Don’t overthink, start your revision now. I am sure you all can do well in your exams. Good luck everyone!” – Jasmine

Write it down, and you’ll actually get started

“As an Engineering student, exams are usually the most difficult part of the year. The exams themselves might not be too difficult, but studying for them always seems to be. In fact, if I were to really look the studying itself isn’t too bad after 10 minutes, it’s the very start of studying and the lure of procrastination that hurts the most. I’ve come up with a proven method to deal with the struggle of getting started.

Tackle exam season and procrastination by writing, in specific detail, exactly when you will start studying and how you will deal with each piece of work throughout the day. Now this may seem tedious, but writing things down has been shown to store willpower for later when you need it. This is also because our plain thoughts are weak: saying “I’ll start studying later” is effortless and repeat that sentence once “later” becomes now is just as easy. But writing things down, that’s a commitment on paper. Mind the following three tips:

Do not over-schedule, the number one reason detailed planning fails is because they are too packed. Leave yourself plenty of “buffer time” to catch-up on things that will inevitably take longer than planned.
Study in short chunks with breaks and rewards in between. There is plenty of great content on the Pomodoro technique, go and read it.
Handwrite your schedule if you can, put effort into making it. Or use a strong calendar app that you have easy access to. Knowing that you’ve put so much thought into your plan makes it much more powerful later on.

When you visualize your time ahead of you, “I’ll start studying later” won’t be so easy to say anymore. Because you have other things planned later, and would you really want to procrastinate and have to reschedule the whole thing? I didn’t think so. So get studying!” – Josh

Know How You Study Best

“Over the years of exams and assignments, I’ve learned that the most important thing is to know how you study best. I know a few people that struggle with exams because they force themselves to study by reading. But they don’t realise that there are other tools that may be more helpful and engaging, such as Youtube videos. Recognising how you study best will help you de-stress and organise your time better. I know that I do not study well with a big group of people, so I like to study in the library with some music and snacks! I also know that cue cards help me for memorisation and online mini quizzes help me with mathematical problems. Studying with tools that benefit you most will help you study trouble-free.” – Thesia

Be prepared

“The night before the exam, check you’ve got your student ID card, pens and pencils, a calculator if you need one and most importantly, you know your candidate number. You can get the number from SRS. By being prepared, you can save valuable minutes in the morning and be on time for your exam, all ready to do amazingly well!” – LP

Feed your brain

“You might have heard this a thousand times but it can’t be emphasised enough. I think these two basic actions are crucial for anyone’s revision to be effective, after all, you don’t want to spend hours sitting above your notes and having no clue at the end of the day. If you find yourself in this position, you might want to change something in your habits, and you might want to think about some of the basics.

Drink plenty of water

Let’s start with a fact that you’ve probably heard countless times. Your body is composed of about 60% water. In order for your brain and body to work efficiently, this balance needs to be maintained. However, you lose water naturally in many ways, therefore, you need to supply your body with an additional amount of water to help keep the balance. Personally, I find that if I don’t drink enough, I become tired easily, have a headache and find it difficult to focus. I don’t have a problem with tap or still water but on the cold days of January, I also like to have a few cups of hot fruit tea. You might want to go for fruit juices or lemonade instead of water, which is completely fine, but try to avoid consuming too many sugary and caffeinated drinks and keep hydrated at all times!

Eat well

Equally important is what you eat throughout the days of revision. It might be tempting to throw a pizza in the oven or order some fast food but your brain functions better if it gets a good deal of nutritious and healthy food. Have a balanced breakfast, lunch and dinner complemented with some healthy snacks such as fruits, nuts or dark chocolate between the main meals. Ideally, your daily calorie intake should come from proteins (e.g. meat, fish, eggs, dairy), fruits, vegetables and a variety of whole grains. Look at the healthy plate below to get some ideas on how to maintain a balanced diet!” – Niki