Yesterday I submitted my final assignment for this semester finally ending my two week long binge of research, writing and sobbing.

It’s weird when the semester comes to an end. The routine you’ve drilled into your brain for the past 14 weeks suddenly stops because there are no more classes to attend, no more readings to do and no more assignments to stress over. My brain tends to panic at this point because it has been so conditioned over the years to expect the worse that it doesn’t quite believe that I’m on holiday. This means that for the next three weeks I will not be able to sleep past 8 in the morning without waking up in a complete panic over missing classes.

For everyone else there are exams. Exams breed stress. Stress breeds anger. Anger leads to the dark side. In recognition of this I thought I would share some basic exam and studying tips.

1 -Eat as much as you can
I’m bad at forgetting to eat when studying and this really impairs my memory. The best thing you can do is have a steady supply of healthy snacks to munch on throughout the day. Fruit is good for this. Strawberries, mandarins and bananas are great. Sugar and chips aren’t so great but sometimes you need sugar and grease.

2 – Sort out your sleep schedule
Classes are over so a bit of a lie-in is very tempting. When you’ve stayed up till 3 a.m studying this lie in begins to feel essential. The problem is that these long nights and late mornings can make getting up for a 9 a.m exam tough. Get your sleep sorted before the semester ends and you should be on track for exams.

3 – Take a break
This one seems obvious but when you’re caught up in the books you forget what time it is (and to eat). The best thing to do, or so I’ve found, is to put the books down and go for a walk or something. Watching TV isn’t such a good idea as I’ve found I tend to find it really hard to go back to the grind.

4 - Triple check your exam timetable
Last year I nearly missed a law exam because I thought it was in the afternoon. If I hadn’t checked after finishing studying I’d have been screwed. Write your exam time-table down and arrive early to all of them!

5 – Don’t Panic!
At the end of the day exams aren’t meant to be torturous. Even for vet students. If you’ve done your studying, attended at least 80% of your classes and you keep a cool head then there is no reason you won’t pass. If you start to panic just take a deep breath and think of the kitten video I posted last week.

Otherwise I wish everyone writing exams good luck. Also if anyone else has some tips please add them in the comment form!


Also just to be consistent!

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