By Vicky Xian, MSc Occupational Psychology
As we all know, exams can be very stressful. After many weeks having to settle into your new masters course, juggling assessments and scribbling lecture notes, it’s finally winter break. You’re relieved as you’ve just finished first term, but you can’t celebrate too early as now you have exams in January!
Different courses require different types of exam preparation, and each person has certain preferences. However, here are some general top tips I have found useful to help you prepare for your exams, as a University of Sheffield student.
- Know what work you have to do
It’s not a very good approach to just jump right into revision and to think “as long as I plough through, I’ll work things out later”. A key factor in effective revision is before anything else, look ahead. See how many lectures you have to cover, how much time you have to prepare and what type of exam it will be. This will not only help you plan effectively, but also help you not feel rushed.
- Keep everything documented
This should be done from day one. But if not, it should start as soon as possible. All types of notes should be filed as soon as you can remember and kept in a safe place. This also goes for the revision period, all revision notes, helpful diagrams or cheat sheets should be carefully filed away in its corresponding lecture and subject in a neatly organised ring binder. You can find ring binders at the school shop in the Students Union at an affordable price. This also applies for your computer, with a document saved in a “masters” file, then in its module code, then its lecture, shown below. This is something that most people look over, but if done early and correctly, finding your feet when you start your revision or even throughout is much easier.
- Finding your study space
Whether it be at home , in a coffee shop, or at one of the libraries at the university, everyone has their own preference when it comes to study environments. Personally, I like a mix of both studying at home and the library. I realised that one of the main downsides with libraries is that over exam periods they become extremely busy. It can be difficult to find a space all through January, never mind a computer. To combat this, I have found a couple of tips just to get the most out of your Sheffield library:
- Wake up early, in order to grab the best space, in general, you need to get to the library between the times of 8am to 10am to get a good desk/ computer. It becomes more like 7am to 9am for silence study spaces. If you’re not a morning person, some people like to go later and study in the evening.
- Check online at https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/findapc/now, as it provides live information on what computers are available at any given time. Not only do they tell you about where free computers are, but they also give you an idea how empty a study area is in general, and also what possible study spaces are available.
And remember, try to not push yourself too hard. Exams are difficult but if you try to study every waking moment, you’ll end up burnt out. The secret to revision is there is no secret: you just need to prepare your revision as soon as possible, to be organised as well as putting in the time to study hard. One important thing I’ve learnt is that you need to take small break throughout the day, as well as at night or in the weekend. Also, try to not study throughout the night as this may affect your sleep quality.