How to look after yourself during exam season

Former Member

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to do a little post on exams, as I know a lot of people have had exams or have exams coming up and it can be a really stressful time!

There can be a lot of pressure during this time and self care can be a way to relax, wind down and re-energize.



- Eat Breakfast before exams or revision
- Don't be scared too reach out for help and support
- Be kind to yourself, you can only do your best
- Have regular breaks
- Don't stop doing things you enjoy, keep up with your hobbies and social time
- Try to get good sleep
- Set up plans or a revision plan, can help if you're feeling overwhelmed
- Keep your body healthy and energised, regular meals and hydration
- Make time to spend time with your friends, try not to isolate yourself
- Set up little rewards for after completing exams or revision

Feel free to share any of your top tips!!

Jade x

AislingDM

Great thread and really important points, especially about trying to keep up with hobbies and socialising, cutting yourself off from others can make exams an even more daunting time !!

I'd also piggy back off of the points about sleep and eating, when we're in a hyper-focused exam mode, it can be easy to forget to do 'basic' things like this, so I'd always say trying to stay as aware of your body as possible is a good idea. If it's telling you to sleep, then catch quick power nap, even if it's in the middle of a revision sesh. Because aside from the strong importance of protecting your mental wellbeing, your exam performance will probably better if you feel as physically able to perform well as possible

Former Member

sleep is a huge one, im loving this appreciation for sleep!!! i know it can even happen by accident that you just stop sleeping as much so you can cram more study time in, but sleep is so important for your health and also your consolidation of knowledge and your memory!

these tips are so good, there's not much to add!

this is kind of an exam tip more than a self care tip, but, keep something the same from when you study and when you sit your exams. like a cologne or perfume, or wear something when you study and wear it when you sit your exam too. it'll help your recall in the exam of the stuff you study and revise, but ritualising like that will also make you feel a lot better about the exam too!!

people do rituals when going through worrying and stressful things and it really really does help your state of mind! - like cosmonauts peeing on the side of their bus before launch (a la Yuri Gagarin's first spaceflight), or cyclist Laura Kenny wetting her sock (ew!) before a race because her sock was wet when she first won

Former Member

Sleep is huge! Also that's a really nice point about ritualising!

Taking breaks when revising is also something really useful that can improve concentration and a good way to look after yourself! When studying in the past I used to study for 20 minutes, take a 20minute break and then do another 20 minutes after. This can also help you keep track of time too