Exam season is almost upon us so I thought I’d share some of my favourite studying tips!

1. Find and set up your best environment to study in. Whether that’s the silent section in the library or playing music in your bedroom, being in an environment that works best for you will give you the best outcome.
2. Look at past papers or similar materials that have been made available to you and familiarise yourself with how the exam will be set out and what the lecturers expect of you. This also involves making a plan for how best to use your time. For example, most history exams are 2 hours long and you usually need to write 2 essays so you should write for 50 minutes each and leave 10 minutes to read over each. (This is just what I usually do!)
3. Learn from your past experiences. If there have been any class tests or essays where you received feedback on things to improve on, it might be worth spending slightly more time on these things that you have to work on than the parts of your course that you already know quite well.
4. Use a variety of study techniques unless you know that one technique really works best for you. Some examples include flashcards, writing essay plans, practice questions, and teaching a friend about a topic.
5. Take breaks. Please don’t try to study for 5 hours straight without a break – it just won’t work! Make a plan before your study session starts of when you will take breaks. It might be an idea to revolve these around food so if you are studying over lunch time, for example, take half an hour to an hour for lunch so you can really enjoy it and have a break from studying.
6. Plan what you’d like to study in each study session so you can tick them off a to do list and feel that satisfying feeling when it’s all done at the end of the day!

I hope these tips help some of you and I wish you all the best of luck with the upcoming exams!