By: Cathy Wang, Nurse on Campus Program Assistant
As the school term comes to an end, the pressure to perform well academically can start feeling overwhelming. This year, take charge of your “crunch time” instead of letting it take over your life! There are strategies that you can take every day to make this year’s exam season a healthy and successful one.
Come up with a plan for success
Set up a plan that divides your time between different projects or classes. Starting a project or studying early on will help prevent unexpected expectations closer to the deadline.
Maintain a regular sleep schedule
Sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation and formation, and students do better in the face of sleep deficit if they have better quality sleep regularly. Still not convinced? Sacrificing sleep time to study more than is likely to lead to struggling on an assignment or test the following day
Try setting an alarm to remind yourself to go to bed, and maintaining a similar sleeping schedule during weekdays and weeknights can also help keep you on track.
Ask for and receive help
Talk to your professor or TA for help, many are happy to answer your questions; some may offer extra exam office hours or review sessions.
A peer academic coach can help you with study skills; they offer free services from 11 am – 4 pm, Monday to Friday in the Chapman Learning Commons – Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Level 3.
As always, Nurse on Campus will be available to answer any health questions you may have. They will be visiting Gage on Mondays from 3pm-6pm, the Longhouse on Tuesdays from 11:30am – 1:30pm, Vanier on Tuesdays from 4:30pm – 7:30pm, Irving on Wednesdays from 11:30am- 1:30pm, and Totem on Wednesdays from 4:30- 7:30pm.
1 (Paxton, 2009)
2 American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2009, June 15). Better Sleep Is Associated With Improved Academic Success. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 31, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090610091232.htm
3 (Gillen-O’Neel, 2013)
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