Exam, Stress and Revision...

Exams and Revision

Like many of you, I am in the middle of taking my University exams. Whether it be GCSE, A-level or University, exam stress effects us all. I thought I would take a little break from my religion and give a few tips about how I revise and how I relax too.

I take an English degree, so my exams are largely essay based revolving around themes or context of the novels or poems set. I am quite a perfectionist when it comes to my work so before I set down to doing revision I make sure I have all of the right materials and stationary.

Last year, for my A-levels I used an A5 sized project book, and split the sections up according to the books or topic I am studying. I then sectioned these sections according to characters, themes, structure etc.

However, this year, for my degree, I have found that there was a lot more to write about each text. The pukka pad was quite limited unto the amount of writing you could put in a certain section and I wanted to get past this problem. I find revision much easier if I write it into A5 size books, so as you can imagine, I was really excited when I found A5 sized ring-binders. With a ring binder I have the freedom to write as much as a I want in each section. This has been my mode of revision this year, and I have found it SO useful.

In terms of how I revise personally for an English degree, is one that is very much suited to myself and the way I learn. As many of you know, an English exam is often very hard to revise for. I find that listing, themes, characters and their traits, motifs and contexts the most helpful and can look to the A5 folder as a handbook. Also, I can not stress enough, SECONDARY SECONDARY SECONDARY criticism! You may not know it, but your school, college and university will have access to a huge amount of secondary criticism which will benefit you greatly in your essay answers.

The Last thing about revision itself would be practice. It is amazing how many questions you see crop up year after year - after all, how many questions can your write for one particular topic? Practise papers, and past papers have been my haven. I find that writing practice answer after practice answer, lodges into my head the themes relevant - it is also nice to see how much you know and often quite comforting.

How to relax - combating stress.

Combating exam stress is all about timing and commitment to those times. I plan my days out, so I will do a certain amount of revision and a certain amount of other things. For example, I will get  up early and do revision until 1.00 then go out for lunch with my Mum. This gives me a break and allows me to take my mind off things and come back to revision again with a fresh mind. I usually then begin revision again at 2.30 until 7.00. This is when I have time to eat my dinner, see my boyfriend and have a nice relaxing bath. Setting aside time in the day to do other things is what keeps me sane during exam/revision period. 

I cannot stress enough the importance of a warm bath in my life. My uni flat doesn't have a bath so I am always SO excited to come home and use it. I have decided to spend my study period at home as it offers less distraction in terms of nights out and events. So a bath is the perfect encouragement for me to work hard until that bath is calling my name! I kit the bathroom out with candles and usually use a lush bathbomb - "sexbomb" is my all time favourite (it turns the water PINK!). This is perfect for me and gives me a great opportunity to wind down and catch up with my best friend - Amazon's kindle. 

I hope this has helped slightly, and if you have any questions then feel free to write a comment below :)
I have only one exam left which takes place on Saturday - that means 6days left! I am SO nervous but I hope all this revision pays off!

What do you do to combat exam stress?