With exams quickly coming up, many people are starting to become more and more worried, however, below are ten tips for you to be ready for your tests!

Step One: Schedule

In order to survive exams, it is helpful to create a schedule of specific subjects to study and when your exams are. This is an extremely helpful thing to do as you get closer to exams so you know when you can study for each subject. If you choose to study a hard subject first, then reward your brain a bit with an easier subject that is less stressful. In order to find out what times and dates your exams are, check power school as soon as possible and create a schedule to hang up in your room or a place where you will see it!

Step Two: Motivate

Sometimes when we are studying it gets to a point where you just want to give up. But do not do that! If you want to help yourself prepare for exams you can reward yourself to help motivate you! Some ideas are: separating subjects into chapters and rewarding yourself every time you finish a chapter or giving yourself half an hour of free time, anything that feels rewarding to you.

Step Three: Sleep

During the exam period you need to remember to get a balanced amount of sleep throughout. Your brain is working so hard when you are studying that you need to let your bodies regenerate and rest. Studies show that the average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between 7 and 7 ¼ hours. However, they need between 9 and 9 ½ hours in reality. So, try and get some sleep and a good nights rest before studying and exams. Some good tricks for better sleep are: stick to a specific sleep schedule, exercise daily and switch off all technology 30 mins/an hour before you sleep. Turn your phone on airplane mode or silent while you sleep in order to make sure there are no distractions.

Step Four: Exercise

Studies have shown that doing exercise before a test or a study session will help your brain become more active and think faster. Even if it means doing a few push-ups or curl-ups before an exam or even taking a nice run, do what you have to do to keep active and let your brain do its thing!

Step Five: Mr. Davy’s 50 Calm Down Techniques

Mr. Davy has a long list of 50 ways to calm yourself down before exams. Some of these activities include: singing, yoga, expressing creativity through painting or drawing, taking a hot bath, create a vision board, going for a walk and many other amazing ideas. If this email was not sent to you, I am sure that Mr. Davy will be happy to share his de-stressing techniques with you!

Step Six: Breathe

Sometimes when we are caught up in studying for exams we forget to do things and get extremely stressed due to that fact that we are rushing everything. What we should do for about 5 minutes a day is take some time to do breathing exercises or even some meditation. These activities will help you calm down and focus on what you really need to focus on throughout this stressful period.

Step Seven: Preparation

Preparing for an exam is such a hard thing to do because in theory, you don’t know what is going to be on the test. But when you think about exams from the past, you will notice that the material you learned throughout the semester was all on the exam. All you need to do is study the material from the semester, no matter if it comes easily to you or is difficult. You need to just start studying. If there are places of confusion, do NOT be afraid to ask your teachers any questions. This might mean making an appointment with your teacher and being prepared with a list of things you are confused about. Sometimes it is helpful to provide a question that you are confused about so the teacher can walk you through it step by step.

Step Eight: Organization

Staying organized includes creating a clear, targeted study plan for the weeks leading up to the test and sticking to that study plan. This is a follow up to step one which was to make a schedule, you need to plan and create organizers that you know will help you through this process. Whether it is setting up reminders on your phone, writing it down in a note book, printing out a study plan or anything else that can help. You just need to make sure that you are preparing yourself in the best way possible. You do you!

Step Nine: Study Groups

Study groups are helpful for some people and maybe not so much for others. Some people who struggle with working in study groups usually pick the wrong people to study with, so make sure you are making good choices. A way to set up a study group is creating a group chat or emailing people asking them if they want to take part in a study group, talk about what subjects you will be focusing on, when and where to meet up, then you have got yourself a study group. Make sure to come prepared to a study group so you are not slacking off. This is no time for being lazy.

Step Ten: Do your best!

Yes this step may sound cheesy but you know what, only you can know what your full potential is. And in order to reach your full potential you need to work hard. Working hard isn’t always easy. Some people out there with 4.0 GPAs will spend hours, days and weeks studying for a simple test. If they can do it for every minor formative or major summative, you can do it for your exams. You need to make sure that all the negativity in your life has been cleared so you can completely focus on studies. Do not focus on the negatives, focus on the positives and the things that will get you through exams.

Good luck to everyone who will be taking exams soon, use these techniques and you will surely be prepared for them!

Megan Black