Exam blocks can be incredibly daunting, and oftentimes diving headfirst into studying seems like the best way to stay on top of exam stress and complete all of the revision that is needed to ace tests. However, as someone who approached trials in this manner but completely revamped her approach to studying for the HSC, I can assure you that this is almost never an effective approach.

There are many ways to approach studying and usually it feels less daunting to plan your study breaks. The best way that I have found to do this is to, on a large piece of paper, create headings of all of the subjects for which you need to study and add subheadings under each one with all of the tasks that must be completed before the exam. From here, I have found that allocating tasks to days before the exam and putting them in a calendar was the best way for me to stay on track.

However, this method must be coupled with effective time management throughout the day. Most importantly is planning breaks. It sounds trivial, but it is highly common for students to finally get into a rhythm of studying and forget to take breaks, often burning themselves out before an exam and enforcing unhealthy habits of skipping meals and losing sleep. The best way that I found to counter this was to plan my day hourly. I typically worked best when I mimicked my school bell times: working for 2 hours and then taking a half an hour break to eat and have a short walk around. However, each student is unique and will have different capacities for studying. Some other methods include the pomodoro technique which features a 25-5 minute or 50-10 minute work-break split.

It usually takes some time for a student to find their rhythm and they shouldn’t be discouraged. Good luck with upcoming exams!

Shahaf Liraz