As usual, it’s been a while since my last post. Since then, a lot of things have happened: a President has been re-elected for a second term, Vanier had its second open mic night/coffee house, and those dreaded midterms are coming back for a second round.

Luckily, I actually did relatively well on my first few midterms, especially considering I had three on the same day. Therefore I’m obviously perfectly qualified to give out some useful, albeit somewhat belated, study tips. Right? Right.

Before the exam:

1. DO study well beforehand; DON’T cram it all an hour before your exam starts.Chances are you’ll remember the material better because you’re actually learning it in the long term and committing it to memory (which could be useful for finals).

2. DO study in a well-lit area – poor lighting hurts your eyes and probably your concentration too :c

3. DO try to study without distractions; DON’T listen to music if you know you’re going to just end up singing/dancing along. If you’re surrounded by distractions, like music, friends or that brand new bottle of nail polish sitting on your desk, begging to be used, force yourself to go somewhere else where you can actually focus. Some people can only focus when there’s music playing in the background, but try to study in an environment similar to the one you’ll be sitting your exam in.

4. DO get a reasonable amount of sleep; DON’T pull an all nighter – sleep helps commit the things you’ve studied to long term memory, so make sure you sleep enough, or at least take a nap at some point, instead of relying on that venti gingerbread latte.

 

During the exam:

1. DO pay attention to the time; DON’T waste time on questions you can’t answer – time management is always an issue in exams. Usually your professor will explicitly state how many marks each question is worth so you can roughly gauge how long to spend on it – make sure you follow these guidelines so you don’t end up wasting half an hour on a question worth only 10% of the mark.

2. DO move on from questions you’re not sure about; DON’T panic – after you move on, you can focus on other questions – but your brain is still working on that question you passed.

 

Remember, everyone has different ways of studying, so take these suggestions with a grain of salt – but hopefully they help! Anyway, those are enough tips for now (since when did this become an advice blog amirite) – in my next post I’ll tell you all about my adventures :)

Don’t forget to be awesome,

Olivia

 

TUNES:

I Wonder – Kanye West
Basic Space – The xx
You – Tally Hall
Lorelai – Fleet Foxes