So its exam season again. Late nights, early mornings and a copious amount of money spent on coffee and take aways. We have all been there and some of us still are. When it comes to exams success, it reminds me of the : The iceberg illusion.
All most parents, lecturers and tutors really want to see is the success side of exams. Basically the tip of the iceberg. What they don't tend to acknowledge and understand is whats underneath the water. The ground work. The failure. The persistence. The dedication. The sacrifice. I could sit here and write about "how you should drink more water", "get more sleep" or "stay off Instagram". But we have heard those a million times.
What I do want to chat about are the things we tend to forget.
1. Your persistence should be admired: At the end of the day these exams are going to benefit YOU and only YOU. Don't spend these endless hours studying and revising for someone else because that will make you resent studying even more. If you find yourself asking "why am I even sitting here studying", brainstorm. Sit down and figure out what you want from these good grades. Don't say "a good job" or "because I just want a degree". Really dig deep and figure out why you want to do well and what you want your end goal to be. When you figure that out, write it everywhere. Write it on your diary, set it as your motivational reminder on your alarm clock, pop it as your screensaver and keep going. Persistence is a quality of winners. Successful people never give up.
2. Emerge yourself amongst positive people: Don't tell me your that friend that continues to over rule your friends achievements. Because if you are, then stop immediately. If you find yourself always surrounded by those negative study buddies, the ones that always try and get one up on you, whether it being that one extra essay they studied or that extra 2% they managed to pull out of that exam, then block them off. Your friends should be there to support you and have your back , especially during exam season. You should motivate each other. Try and do up a study plan together. Incorporate positive things to do on your study breaks, go for a walk, book a study room and tackle an essay together. Its even as easy as walking home together and discussing 3 positive things you achieved that day.
3. Celebrate your success: There will be days were you have planned to cover a certain amount of tasks and yes, you will get that done. However, there will be days when you aim to cover a certain amount of tasks and not get them done. But that is okay. We tend to be afraid of creating an aim because of the failure that could potentially follow from it. Do not be afraid of not completing certain tasks you set yourself. Firstly, you were brave enough to have an aim and secondly, nobody will give a fuck if you do it or not. Coming back to the first point, you are doing this for you. So do not beat yourself down if you spend too long on a certain topic. Reverse it and celebrate that you actually sat down and studied it. Maybe you didn't get everything you wanted covered that day but as long as you aim to get it done at some point there is always tomorrow.
4. Trust your brain: This is something I struggle with quiet a lot. Every student has that fear that when you go into an exam that you will go blank. If you have read the information and you've rewrote it 100 times the information is in there. Do not panic and just breath. Trust your brain that its up there somewhere. If you need to, take 5 minutes during the exam to relax and allow things to flow from brain to paper.
5. Remember to have something to look forward too: There is nothing worse than finishing exams and having nothing to look forward too. My brain and body run on the idea of having something fun and exciting planned for after exams. No it doesn't have to be expensive. it can be something as simple as trekking with alpacas and drinking presecco for 20 euro in the wicklow mounts (YES THIS IS A THING AND I AM SO EXCITED). There are plenty of cheap and affordable things you can plan and they can include a fun camping trip with your friends, a cheeky back massage in your favourite spa or if you are super lucky a city break to somewhere you've been meaning to visit!
Of course with all that being said I just wanted to say goodluck! I would love to hear if this helped you in anyway!
With that being said,
Keep being you and let the magic happen.
Love R x