Overview
Hey everyone,
Are you a medical student or junior doctor with upcoming exams?
Exam season can be stressful for everyone. Today I’ll share 6 strategies to help you survive exam season. Even if you’re not in the medical field, these strategies can be helpful to help you survive (and thrive) during exam season.
Tip #1 – Don’t Skimp on Sleep
Tip #2 – Ditch the Fast Food
Tip #3 – Move Your Body Everyday
Tip #4 – Take Mental Breaks
Tip #5 – Schedule Mini-Rewards
Tip #6 – Limit Social Media
Introduction
It’s exam season again.
And just like that, every university student is hitting the books HARD!
The lead up to exams is challenging.
You are time poor with lots of content to revise (or study for the first time) before exam day.
The longer your revision drags on, the more mental and physically exhausting exam preparation can become. It can be hard to stay motivated for extended periods of time. The days can often blend into one and you begin to wonder when this will all be over.
Today, I would like to share 6 tips that you can implement to help survive exam season so that you are operating at your peak on exam day. After all, it’s no use putting in all that hard work, only to fall into a heap just before the exam.
Here goes!
Tip #1 – Don’t Skimp on Sleep
Sleep is THE most important thing to do well in the lead up to exams.
Sleep is crucial to letting your brain process and absorb all the information you’ve been trying to cram into it. If you’re brain is tired, it will not remember things you’ve already revised and it won’t be able to process more information.
Try and avoid pulling “all-nighters” or staying up late to cram in every last morsel of content. This is doing you more harm than good.
Aim to get a reasonable number of hours of sleep per night, so you wake up feeling refreshed for another day of study.
Tip #2 – Ditch the Fast Food
When you’re time poor with lots of study to get done, it’s tempting to choose easy meal options. Going through the McDonald’s drive thru at 2am in the morning or ordering some Uber Eats to your doorstep certainly seems like the more convenient option.
But is it the healthiest?
Probably not.
Our bodies aren’t designed to function well off high carbohydrate, high fat meals which constitute most takeaway options. They can make you feel sluggish, lethargic and dehydrated, which can prevent you from operating at your peak performance.
So do yourself a favour and pick up some fresh fruit and vegetables and low GI carbohydrates from the supermarket. It might take 30 minutes extra but your body will thank you.
Tip #3 – Move Your Body Everyday
Healthy body, healthy mind as the saying goes.
Our brain and body can start to feel drained when we are cooped up indoors all day pouring over study material.
Try to break this cycle by doing some activity. You don’t have to run a marathon or pump out an intense gym session. A thirty minute walk around campus in the fresh air can be a great way to reset your body and mind for the next round of study.
Tip #4 – Take Mental Breaks
Learning, studying and revising all day, every day can be EXHAUSTING. Your brain will probably feel like mush in the middle of your exam preparation.
That’s why it’s so important to take regular, schedule mental breaks.
These can help you maintain focus without feeling burnt out.
A mental break involves completely moving away from your study space and actively engaging your brain in a non-study task. This could be listening to your favourite music or watching an episode of your favourite show on Netflix. If you’re feeling super-productive, you can use these mental breaks to complete other necessary chores such as washing the dishes, doing the laundry or tidying up your room.
Tip #5 – Schedule Mini-Rewards
It can be hard to find motivation to keep studying. Try and schedule in “mini-rewards” to help you stay motivated and power through your study.
A “mini-reward” could be anything you enjoy doing. Whether it’s a hobby or eating your favourite food or hanging out with your friends. Schedule in activities you are looking forward to.
Tip #6 – Limit Social Media
It can be hard to switch off from social media during exam season. When you’re stuck indoors, revising an endless amount of content, it is very tempting to reach for your phone and see what the rest of the world is doing.
However, limiting your social media intake during exam season has a number of benefits:
1. You’re not constantly being distracted by notifications or being sucked into a scrolling vortex
2. You’re attention span isn’t being chewed up by short, sharp bits of content which means you can concentrate for longer periods of time
3. You’re less like to feel FOMO as you see everyone who isn’t studying live their best life on the ‘gram
If you are struggling to limit your social media use, consider using mobile apps like Freedom, to help you stay focused.
Final Thoughts
Exam season is tough for everyone. The key to performing well on exam day is ensuring that your mind and body are operating at their peak performance. By doing the simple things right (i.e. eating well, sleeping enough, exercising), you can (and WILL) survive exam season. I hope these tips were useful!
If you have any more tips or tricks you’d like to share, send me an email at askdoctornisha@gmail.com.
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