The end of December is the beginning of credits in universities and colleges. And it happens that even thoughts about the upcoming session spoil the mood of students. Let's see how you can reduce stress during this period and not collapse after the finish.
Of course, you should not take the session lightly. It is important if you want to continue your studies next semester. But any test or exam is not the main test of the century, but just one of the barriers that you are certainly able to overcome.
Even if this is your first session, remember that you have already passed the exams. Perhaps they were worried, afraid to do something wrong, but they managed to cope with their worries and successfully overcame that stage - otherwise they would not be preparing for the session now. This means that you will be able to overcome new obstacles.
Yes, it is possible that some of the students will not get credit the first time. Or even fail the exam. But there's nothing wrong with that, because you can always try again. Your teacher has almost certainly seen dozens, if not hundreds of students who failed the first pass. For a lecturer, an exam that is not passed or not passed by a student is an ordinary situation. Remember, too, that in case of failure, you will definitely have a chance to fix everything.
On the Internet, you can find tips to delete all social media apps during exams. And also transfer all readable channels in the messenger to the archive. This will supposedly help you focus only on your studies and not get distracted. Well, such a radical decision will really benefit someone.
But not for everyone. Such restrictions can only increase anxiety and add discomfort.
If you've never done a digital detox before, it's hardly worth experimenting right now. Your task is to reduce anxiety, not increase it. Therefore, try not to disconnect from the information feeds at all, but to reduce the time you devote to them.
For example, you can enter a rule: no social networks in the morning — just study. When all the plans for today are completed, you can open a messenger or a feed. You may see hundreds of updates. And you will notice that not all of you will want to read in full. You may even decide to get rid of some subscriptions.
The main thing is to choose such a mode of staying online so that information noise does not distract you from preparing for the session.
Some students need this item. A clear schedule will help them distribute their forces correctly and not miss anything important. A great option is to draw an exam grid on a large piece of paper, add preparation dates there and make a schedule for each day. You can make it as detailed as possible: write when you are going to repeat each theoretical section and solve practical problems.
Hang the table on the wall and fill in the graphs with the passed tests and exams.
This will help keep you motivated and remind yourself of your own successes.
For some, it is more convenient to enter all the key dates into the calendar on a smartphone and add reminders: when to start preparing for the next exam, which textbooks or reference books will be needed.
However, there are students who do not see any point in drawing up a plan. They say it's easy to remember the exam schedule, and reminders that it's time to study are just annoying.
Do whatever is convenient for you. But the table with the names and dates of the exams is still worth keeping at hand. And to introduce a rule: in the morning you study, and after the end of classes you can do anything.
Of course, teachers advise repeating new material after each lecture or laboratory work. But even excellent students rarely follow such recommendations. Therefore, before the session, try to plan your time so that before each serious test or exam you have 3-4 days to prepare.
To remember any information, you need to repeat it several times. If you read the summary from morning to night, and even more so from night to morning, you will get an idea of the subject, but you are unlikely to remember much. A significant part of the information will simply disappear from memory. Which means you've wasted your time and energy.
Therefore, you can build training like this. After passing the exam, you don't think about studying at all until the next morning. And tomorrow you can take a list of questions for a future test and at least scroll through the summary.
Here is an algorithm that may be useful.
Of course, it is generally accepted. that the student already knows everything and he only needs to repeat what he has passed a little. But in reality, this stage usually brings a lot of unexpected discoveries.
In the first 1-2 days, you carefully read the synopsis, trying to understand all the recorded theses, laws and chronicles. Your task now is not to memorize as much as possible, but to read the material and make sure that there are no incomprehensible topics left.
In parallel, you can mark which exam questions you have found answers to.
It is rare, but it happens that some topic is described too briefly in the abstract or is missing altogether. Pay attention to her. You may find the answers in a textbook, a teaching aid, or online. If not, ask the teacher for a consultation before the exam.
At this stage, you can make any notes, draw diagrams, draw pictures — that is, use the entire arsenal of sketchnoting. And if you need to remember information about a historical event or the course of a scientific experiment, you can imagine all the stages in the form of a movie or cartoon.
As a result, you will get to the end of the summary. If the subject is complex, it may take two days, but one is usually enough for simple material.
As a rule, you have already formed an idea about the subject in your head. Now you just need to repeat what you have passed and try to remember the most important thing.
Take a synopsis and your recent notes. Read the topics you already know again. Try to remember everything important — for example, the wording of the rules and theorems. To highlight the main thing, write cheat sheets. It is unlikely that the entire answer to the question will fit on small pieces of paper, so you will have to highlight the main theses.
And write them down carefully — that is, turn on the motor memory.
Do not expect that cheat sheets will help you in the exam. But they can definitely be useful in preparation.
At this stage, open the summary and the notebook with notes again. Take a list of questions and try to remember the most important information for each answer. It turned out great. No, you open the summary and repeat what you forgot. And so on to the final question.
Hooray, you have prepared well. Even if you forget something during the exam, it's not scary. But you will be able to answer other questions.
Over time, each student gets life hacks that help him prepare for the session with less effort. Here are some options that may be useful to you.
And don't forget: if something goes wrong on the exam, you can always try to fix the situation.
