Somehow, I am still awake despite getting up at 5.30am this morning to take the Trader Train into the City and get some early morning cramming done before my 10am Galaxy Dynamics exam. It was brutal. So much for all that.
To be honest, even if I end up failing some or all of my five brutal astrophysics exams, this year was different from last year in one respect: I didn’t lose my sanity. That alone makes me consider it somewhat of a success.
I know a lot of people are still in the exam trenches, so I thought I would post some post-mortem thoughts and tips that might prove helpful to someone somewhere. After all, I already have two degrees and have sat more exams that probably anyone else I know. For whatever that’s worth. Notice that I can’t tell you have to ace your exams and get straight As, especially since there are better books for that (recommended: How to Become a Straight A Student. This is merely going to be about sanity and survival.
* Turn your damn computer off. And your phone. If you really have to use the computer, turn off your wifi or use a blocker like Antisocial. Personally, I get nothing done unless I actually take my laptop off my desk and hide it under my pillow.
* Similarly, clear your desk of extraneous crap and distractions. Or, even better, seek refuge in a proper quiet academic library where you are forced to stare at your work and nothing else for hours on end. Get used to your fortress of solitude for a few weeks. It will be over soon.
* The most important advice I have for you is to make your work count. Aim for quality studying, not quantity. It isn’t about the number of hours you spent, but what you spent them on. Five hours deep in concentration over past exam papers is time well spent, five hours waffling over how boring your notes are and checking Facebook are not. Your exam is not going to be about facebook. Or celebrity gossip.
* Also just as importantly, when you work this hard (assuming you aren’t slacking off), you need to take breaks. Your brain gets fatigued after a while, so when your eyes are glazing over from information overload (not boredom), get up and have a cup of tea or something.
* Equally, a person can only do so many productive hours of work per day. Make them count. But also don’t try and study for hours on end and think that you can stay focused or productive. Everyone has their limit, respect it. Once you hit the wall, get up and do something else for a while, or even call it a day. You can build your endurance up: I started at 2 hours a day and built up to about 6 or 7 hours a day of solid work. But after I did those hours, I went downstairs and watched crap telly the rest of the evening and then went to bed knowing that I did all I could do that day. No one can do this 24/7. Give yourself a break.
* Draw up a loose schedule. Lay your exam dates out and then schedule out any distractions or avoidable hassle. Count on doing nothing 48 hours before an exam except cramming and plan accordingly.
* If you study to music, don’t let the selection of the music distract you into playing DJ and wasting time. I just spent a month listening to Autechre’s Amber on repeat. This stopped me from waffling over music selections. I have also used Soma FM’s Drone Zone extensively for this purpose.
* Don’t try and multi-task. Sometimes you can’t avoid having to revise across multiple subjects at once, but if you can help it, try and sink into only one subject per day. It takes a lot of time getting your brain spinning up to a subject, so it is best not to context switch too often.
* Use the Pomodoro Technique to get started with revision when it feels too overwhelming to even start. Once I got into the swing of things, I stopped using it and instead took breaks roughly every hour or so. At a certain point, the structure of Pomodoro itself can be distracting rather than motivating. You’ll know you hit this point when the timer goes off and you’re annoyed because you are still working. Lose the timer and keep working once you hit your flow.
* Just reading notes does not work for me. If I write it down, though, I am likely to remember it. Draw up skeleton exam revision notes for each subject. Then solve as many past problems as you can get your hands on. In the course of those practice problems, you’ll uncover any gaps in your knowledge. When you run across something that you should remember, make a flash card for it. Flash cards are amaze at getting you to memorise stuff — but be aware you only store it in short term memory so be sure and go through them just before the exam.
* Buy in lots of ready meals and soups or whatever. Try not to each too much crap, but don’t waste precious time or energy on cooking. Just heat something up and take a brain break in front of the telly and relax instead. You’ll need lots of snacks, but seriously try to avoid overloading on sugar because it will cause the brain fatigue to set in all the more quickly. Try some fruit, nutty or protein bars, pretzels, etc.
* Be kind to your back. Almost every seriously nerdy student I’ve known gets back issues by the end of exams. I myself end up with this weird sort of whiplash in my neck. When I take breaks, I crack my back out by lying flat on the floor with my knees bent (it audibly clunks into place, disconcerting). I also do some downward dogs and some supermans to try and keep some strength in my back and core muscles to try and keep myself relatively intact.
* Before the day of the exam, seriously, lay out your clothes and pack up your notes and stuff in your bag the night before so you don’t wake up to a frantic mess. Also, leave yourself plenty of time to get to the exam early. Especially in London, when the trains, tubes, etc. are always breaking, I try and get there around 1-2 hours early. The bonus is that I then use that time to sit in a cafe and go over my notes and flash cards one more time.
* Try and take one day off a week. Or at least half a day. You have to do your laundry sometime, right? I always took the afternoons after exams off to decompress and degauss my brain. If I have the luxury of time, I will also take the day after off.
* When you get that panicky superstressy feeling, give meditation a go. Or at least just give yourself ten minutes with a cup of tea in the sun (if you have any) to try and think about the birds, the sky, trees, etc. Nothing is so bad that you can’t take ten minutes to catch your breath.
* If all else fails, remember that this too shall pass.
Related post: Getting My Study On
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