Exam tips and stress relief tricks

School pressure got to me in week 5 of this semester. I barely escaped assignment week before being handed over to week 6, quiz week. For a law student, or a third year student the pressure is immensely high seeing as this time around, you cannot click your way into a good grade, with no means of guessing to a surprise C+, preparation is highly important. The question therefore that may follow is how to prepare for an examination and how to handle the stress that may came with it.

The Pareto principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. A good lumberjack spends more time sharpening his axe than he does cutting down a tree, this denotes that to get a good result the trick is in sufficient preparation. Do not let the curse of procrastination get you, waiting until the last minute, feels good in a moment but will only add stress later and cause you to fail an exam or test that probably wasn’t that difficult. Start your studying earlier, it may be too late to do this for the quizzes but you have mid exams and finals to fall back on. Now when it comes to the actual week of tests or exams, what is important is to relax. From my experience, stress can often make you forget what you study. So wake up early and have something to eat (avoiding heavy meals) and relax while you simply go through your notes. Additionally, last minute cramming has also been a contributing factor to exam stress. Sometimes it may be okay to get some last minute studying done but, why not have a group study session to share information. That way there is less pressure. Lastly, believe in yourself, a positive mind goes a long way, if you’re defeated before even seeing the paper, chances are you’ve already lost that battle. However, the war isn’t over, so cheer up and good luck.

Written by Malama Ngosa