How to Be the Best Without the Stress
Advice from a Year 12 Student – Emma (All Saints College)
Exams can be a very stressful period and taking steps to minimise the impact they have on you is extremely beneficial. By implementing a few key habits into your study routine, your exam stress decreases and you can start performing at your best.
The 3 Key Habits to being the best student you can be
We recommend working into your study routine 3 key habits:
Planning Ahead
Planning ahead is important in all aspects of life, especially study! Leaving everything to the last minute can be a serious stress starter and have a negative overall effect. Making a study plan at the beginning of each term or exam period which outlines what you are going to do when can help you pace yourself so that when exam time rolls around.
When planning for exams a good approach to take is to break your work into chunks. By breaking everything up into manageable chunks a heavy work load can seem a lot more manageable. Our ATAR Head Start Program gives you a great platform to build up your study from and run across Perth during the January school holidays. Find out more here
Double check the syllabus
When heading into an exam it’s important you know what to expect. Examiners can only test you on your courses syllabus. A good habit to get into can be basing your notes around your courses syllabus’s key points. By knowing what is in your syllabus and being confident that you’ve covered all sections you won’t be blindsided by questions you didn’t expect. If you want to know exactly what to expect when it comes to your exam our Exam Boost Seminars are an intensive one-day class to show you what will be in your upcoming exam and how to get full marks. These seminars run prior to the end of year exam period. Find out more here
Importance of routine
Our bodies love routine and maximising how comfortable you feel in an exam environment can really boost your marks. By studying under exam environments you can acclimatise your body to be used to working for extended periods of time in a quiet and timed setting.
Furthermore, it’s important to know where you study best. If you work better in clean work spaces or those with some clutter, make sure you recognise this and keep your desk how you like it. By knowing how you work best and implementing this into your study routine the time that you spend doing work can be maximised. Other things to think about is whether or not you work well with music, people around you, and lots of light. Knowing how and where you work best can be a crucial step to working effectively.
It’s okay to stress!
Having a small amount of stress can help drive you to work harder, although too much can have a very negative affect. By minimising the stress and maximising your ability to perform achieving your best results will come naturally.
Exams are never going to be fun, but by working smart and effectively they could be a little bit easier.
