Effective Strategies for Passing Your Exams
Over the next couple of weeks, we will all be heading towards a very stressful period of the semester. Students will be studying for various exams and completing assignments for their respective courses as the semester finishes up. Throughout these weeks, we understand how stressful the school workload will become as you try to manage your time effectively between different aspects of your life. We would like to help you develop amazing study habits and implement strategies in order to achieve these different academic goals you have for the end of the semester. We will be discussing different topics such as:
Creating Important Study Habits
Handling Stress
Post-Exam Thoughts/Behaviour
Tip #1: Changing your study habits
For starters, creating effective study habits for yourself is very important in order to be prepared for different course examinations and assignments due at the end of the semester. One of the important tips and advice we suggest students implement throughout their studies for exam season relates to the idea of organizing your study space. More importantly, we suggest students organize their schedule and create proper study times for different courses. A problem students encounter when exam season and other assignments start to pile up for them is the fact that they might not know how to properly schedule their study habits. We believe that students should schedule their time accordingly. Students must consider factors such as exam/assignments weightings (may be different for every course), due dates, amount of time/effort needed to complete these items, etc. Overall, managing your time effectively will help you create healthy study habits in order to be ready for the different exams/assignments you will be encountering within the next couple of weeks.
Tip #2: make use of the resources available at ryerson
We also advise you to review course content and utilize different resources to help you learn/content important concepts. Here at Ryerson University, professors are an amazing resource accessible to students. It is important for students to reach out and connect with their professors if they have any questions or concerns for their respective courses. They may also be able to help you understand any important course related content in regards to studying for exams and also important industry knowledge for the future. As students, we are also given access to educational services provided by the academic success centre. At the academic success centre, they implement resources such as tutoring for specific courses/subjects, providing course-specific tip sheets and online resources, and also reading/writing services to help you succeed through certain assignments. In general, Ryerson University provides many services/resources accessible to students in order to help them succeed through courses no matter the different examinations and assignments assigned.
Tip #3: form a study group
Another important tip that may be effective to create and develop study habits is to create a study group with a couple of your friends and classmates who have the same/similar courses within the same semester. As the semester progresses, you will (or have already) encountered students who will want to achieve the same academic goals as yourself. They may also have encountered the same problems when it comes to studying for the exams and completing their assignments. Creating and implementing these study groups will effectively help you stay on track in terms of reviewing course related content and completing the mandatory assignments. You will also be able to ask your friends and classmates any questions you may have and vice versa. Study groups ultimately create accountability between you and other students with the purpose of reaching academic goals within the courses.
Now when it comes to handling stress, students have the tendency to become overwhelmed during examination periods because they are uncertain about how to approach and prepare for exams while also managing their stress. We want students to know that feeling stressed out is absolutely normal and at times vital for you to perform to the best of your ability, however, if this stress is not adequately managed it will have negative consequences on your health and ability to perform. As a result, stress management for exams is an essential skill for all students to learn, adapt, and execute throughout the entire academic year. Students have many resources available to them so they can create their own stress management scheme which works according to their unique needs and schedule.
Stress derives from a combination of factors even when just focusing on what students get stressed about during examination and study periods. Some examples of common stress factors when the term is coming to an end is time constraint, work overload, anxiety, unorganized thoughts, managing school with personal work and social responsibilities, having no guidance, procrastination, and having a disturbed daily schedule. To combat these, Students must engage in healthy coping techniques and adopt the study habits discussed earlier.
Tip #1: set smart goals
At first, you should take the time to step back and look at the bigger picture of your responsibilities that lie ahead in order to see what they must accommodate for. From this step onwards, you should start setting realistic goals they can work towards on a daily basis for example, if your overarching goal is to study and review a course within 2 weeks then your realistic daily goal should be reflective of achieving this by perhaps studying for 2 hours everyday with a short break in between. Setting realistic goals will make all your objectives more attainable and reduce the stress of getting overwhelmed at the last minute while also preventing unhelpful habits such as procrastination.
Tip #2: develop a healthy routine
Another stress alleviating practice that is typically overlooked by many students is maintaining a healthy routine aligned with adequate sleep, eating, and exercise. At some point in time, or perhaps very often, we are all guilty of letting our healthy schedule and habits deteriorate as our school work stress increases. As a result, we become inevitably involved in unproductive and unhealthy habits that deprive us from performing optimally and decay our mental and physical health. To help students avoid feeling burnout and manage their stress, it is important they accommodate enough time to sleep, take breaks, and isolate themselves from work every once in a while. According to research, a short break should be taken as often as every hour whereas a long break can be taken every 2 to 4 hours. Relaxing your mind even for a few minutes increases your attention and memory retention abilities and also motivates you to work effectively. There are many free apps that can allow students to schedule breaks during prolonged periods such as Focus Keeper (iOS, free) and PomoDoneApp (compatible for all desktop operating software). Students should remember to make their breaks even more fun by doing what they enjoy like listening to music, going for a walk, exercising, or browsing social media. By doing so, students can ensure their performance doesn’t suffer which is counterintuitive to their means of studying and producing optimal work. Not only will this help manage the stress students feel when aiming to study effectively, but adopting healthy schedules will ensure that they are always in the best shape to undergo any task with adequate concentration and energy.