How to survive (and thrive) during exam week

Well, fellow Fanshawe students, it's no secret that we are now coming up to exam week. If you haven't already started studying (or stressing), you probably will be soon!

No one can truly understand the anxieties and busyness of exams unless they are a student, and many people who haven't had to truly “walk the walk” often try to offer advice on how to conduct oneself in an effective and efficient manner during this fateful week. Often, however, this advice is not helpful but rather just a stereotype of how they picture we students should be handling it.

So how can we, in a realistic way, study for exams in an effective and efficient way?

A student for the past eight years, I have studied at two different schools previous to my enrollment at Fanshawe, and obtained a Bachelor's degree along the way. I am also only a few credits away from my Master's degree, which I will finish by next year. Along with studying full time at Fanshawe, I have two toddlers (picture my house as a zoo and you'll only slightly begin to understand the mayhem!), an awesome wife who is studying full-time out of town, and I write for Interrobang. With all this time in an academic setting, I have learned a lot about how to manage my time most effectively.

Here are some tips and advice that have worked for me over the many years of student life. I hope that I can impart some nugget of wisdom to help you through this sometimes hellish last few weeks of the semester.

Get some real shut-eye at night: This is a tough one, but you can carve out time and stick to it; good thing Breaking Bad is over!

Figure out your study style: This of course is something you will only figure out with time, however, we can quickly learn if we need music to help us focus, or if any noise is just a nuisance and makes it harder for us to focus.

Find a study group — or form one: I can't count the number of times I've felt incredibly unprepared for a test or exam and a few hours of study group beforehand has saved me. Bouncing ideas off one another and listening to others' thoughts and ideas, or discoveries really helps some people to retain the info they need to retain.

Study hard, but take breaks: If you're out at Starbucks or the library, by all means stay there for six hours, but take a half-hour break every few hours to surf the net or grab a refill. Do this responsibly!

Manage tasks appropriately: In other words, if you are finding it difficult to manage your projects, don't spend too much time on an assignment worth only five per cent. Focus on the big fish. Bombing an assignment worth five per cent will hardly affect your mark; bombing one worth 30 per cent will.

Make up cue cards: If you're studying a subject that requires a lot of flat-out memorization of facts, terms or concepts, making up cue cards is often an excellent way to organize what you need to study — and the process of actually making them is a part of studying!

Remain calm and positive: Remember, Christmas is right around the corner and soon enough we'll be sipping eggnog (or a rye and coke) while we relax and enjoy some treats with our loved ones. Relax; it'll all be over soon.

If you try some of these tips, you should be on the road to a successful end to the semester. Good luck!