How to Prepare for Exam/Deadline Season

Currently in my first year at Kingston I am soon to be faced by deadlines at the end of March, I’ve been in this position before, when I did my A-level’s and for my final major project hand in for the art and design foundation course. Because of this previous experience I have learnt how keep myself feeling calm during this period and feel positive after the exams/deadlines, knowing I gave it my all. As I know many others are currently in a similar situation, I thought I’d share some tips that I have learnt so far.

Managing Time

The first thing you need to concur is managing your time, if you haven’t already started preparing this is your sign to start revising and working on those projects :wink:

A good place to start is working back from a deadline/exam date and creating a plan, I usually do this at the beginning of each term or project, but now would be a great time to start. I create a table, splitting it into weeks down the left and each module I have across the top, which could also be translated into each A-level, project or exam, whichever makes the most sense for you. In each box I add what I need to do that week, for example when preparing for my English A-level exams I would have a poem that I was going to revise that week or for politics the topic I was going to revise. Now in uni I may designate one week to planning a photoshoot the next to doing it and the week after, editing it. This helps me see how much I need to do and how I am going to fit it into the time I have. It makes me feel less overwhelmed as I can spread the work over a few weeks.

Then I also create daily and weekly to-do lists as well as time blocking my days to fit in any other commitments I may have and have a set schedule that I can follow, similar to a revision timetable. The technique I use to structure my to-do lists and daily plans is a technique that I got from the entrepreneur Grace Beverly that can be explained better here how to be really really really productive without getting overwhelmed (youtube.com)

In short it is about separating your general tasks from the things you need to do for revision and projects, so you aren’t left with one long overwhelming, confusing to-do list.

Choosing your environment

Now you have a plan, you need to be honest with yourself and finding out what conditions you study the best in, learning what works and doesn’t for you. Things to consider are when, where, and how you study the best, for me I know I’ll get way more work done when I am in the library compared to in my room. I also know that my phone is a huge distraction and so will delete certain apps or turn it off, there are many apps you can get that help lower screen time. Finally, I know that I work best in the morning and at night just want to be in my room watching TV and so when time blocking, I factor this in and make sure to plan to go to the library in the day and not at night and do the other tasks at night from my room where I can watch TV at the same time.

Hope this helps and good luck with exams and deadlines :smile: