hi friends.

Caitlin here. time to dole out my wisdom on the topic of exams. As this is now my 4th year, and 8th exam period, I’ve learned a few things by trial and error. lemme share my findings with you. are you ready? ohk. here we go.

1. sleep: don’t not sleep. there’s really nothing worse you can do for yourself. The day before the day before your exam (so if your exam is Wednesday, we’re talking about Monday) get a solid night sleep and wake up early, say 7am. spend the day on your review session and doing number 4 and 2. then go to bed when you’re tired (probably around 10:43pm if you’re me) and wake up at a time that will give you plenty of time for my day-of check list (at least 1.5 hrs)

2. aaaand BREAK!: yup. this is a common one people forget, or eliminate first when they think they have too much studying to do. this is paramount. take breaks during the day. Sometimes they’re going to be involving number 4, and sometimes they’re going to include writing cards, going shopping, making some treats, knitting (have you caught on that I love to knit yet?), or my favourite option: drinking tea and watching Napoleon Dynamite for the 539th time.

3. but still study: students are usually an either/or between 2 and 3. I try to be a both/and. [note: try is the key word in that sentence]
create a tangible and realistic study goal for each day. Remember to include breaks and social times. also, the day before your exam, plan for that day to be a review day. realistically, something might happen during one of the other days that shifts your studying schedule a bit. it’s all good – as long as you have that review day!
Example: I’m going to read all of Infinite Jest on Dec. 5th. Change it to: I’m going to read pg 1-25o of Infinite Jest on Dec 5th. This will allow for you to have breakfast or coffee with a friend, go for a good walk and won’t make you worry that you’re going to run out of time.

 

4. sweat like you’re Richard Simmons: don’t forget to sweat. I like to run and do yoga. some like to bike, walk, play a sport, pilates, kick box, swim, go bowling. whatever you’re doing, do it as long as you’re sweating, getting your heart rate nice and elevated and taking time away from studying!

5. don’t touch notes on the day of your exam: while this may be a strange one for you to believe, this can be super detrimental. when you study something, your brain needs some time to properly work through it. it does that when you’re sleeping (hence number 1). Another reason for this nugget of wisdom is that when you study the day of your exam, a problem that happens is that when you begin to look at the exam questions, all you can think about are the last few notes you looked at – the rest of the studying you’ve done is below all the fresh information. you’re already having to write an exam; don’t make it harder on yourself by having to search too hard for info.

 

Now here’s my day-of-exam checklist:

1. did I get enough sleep? (number 1)

2. do I have a healthy and not loud snack? (I like strawberries with a bit of sugar on them, cucumbers, and a small package of sour patch kids with a bottle of water)

3. do I have enough writing utensils? (meaning, more than 2) Do I have my UBC Card with me?

4. do I have time to be active? (i will either go for a short run or go to a yoga class. The classes are best for when I have a later exam)

5. have I eaten anything today? If not, try some oatmeal, eggs with toast, quinoa salad – something filled with nutrients and that will keep you full so you’re not distracted during your exam.

6. have I arrived at my exam room with at least 10 minutes to spare? good, cuz I’ll need to pick a seat where I can see the clock and won’t be distracted by that cute guy/gal sitting in front of me.

7. did i read through the whole exam before starting to answer questions? good thing I didn’t study this morning, or else I’d have to really dig deep to answer half of this exam.

[note: truly there are so many great reasons to read over your whole exam before starting to write. a) sometimes profs will answer a question with a question two pages later. heck yes. b) if you aren’t sure what the question is even saying, you have time to process it while you’re answering other questions. c) if you don’t know how to answer the question on first reading, your brain will start digging around to find out the answer you know is in there d) you know what’s coming next. if you see 6 pages, you may think you have plenty of time on each page. but once you read through the questions, you find out that the last two pages have quite complicated long-answer questions. if you hadn’t read over the whole exam before, you’d get to page 5 with only 40 minutes left. 40 minutes for the hardest part. yikes.]

8. did I read over the exam once i’m done to make sure: a. I didn’t start writing in Greek half way through and b: I answered all the questions?

9. did I thank my prof when I handed in my exam and congratulate myself when i got out by getting a vanilla latte from Great Dane? heck yes i did.

 

Well, good luck on exams. I wish you joy and happiness and love and lots of hair on your head
(cuz you didn’t pull it out… get it?)