2016 May 12
by Anuki Premachandra
We’re glad you’re reading this article, but you really shouldn’t be here should you?
Its finals week. Most of us are stressing out. It’s the month of exams, uni finals, London O/L and A/L exams and one issue most of us have is the problem of being too lazy to do anything at all. Think about it, you really shouldn’t be here reading this article, hell I shouldn’t even be writing this, instead, you and I are both supposed to be doing a paper or going through our notes. Instead, we decide that spending time on the internet would get us through our exams than actually opening our notes and going through them.
I know I’m not alone and I know that procrastination is a problem that overtaken the best out of most of us today. There’s plenty of days I’ve come home after a big exam and told myself that next time, I would study better and not waste my time. But the irony is, the motivation that we need to study, usually comes after we screw up a paper, it lasts for about 2 minutes after leaving the exam hall, and then it doesn’t come around again until the next time you it to write for another exam paper. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Overcoming procrastination or wasting your time 100% is a near impossibility. Look at it realistically, there’s no way you can just work work and work and expect to not take some time off. That’s the other issue, taking a break it fine, but a break that extends for more than the time you’ve spent studying, that’s not fine at all. I’ve come up with a few tips to help you cut down on the time you spend procrastinating and get studying. You can’t just read this article and implement it ‘later’ you need to start doing it right away. Reality check, your exams are not that far away!
- The Pomodoro Technique
This is a time management method developed by a guy named Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique works by using a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes long, followed by short breaks. Once four work intervals are completed, you can reward yourself with a long break.
One of my lecturers recommended this to me late last year and I have been amused by the technique ever since. There’s a bunch of apps in the App store and Play store and if you were to type in ‘Pomodoro timer’ you’ll be able to find one that you like. The one I use is called Clear Focus and initially it starts with work intervals 25 minutes long. Once the 25 min work session is over, you can reward yourself with a 5 min break. After 4 work sessions are completed, you get to reward yourself with a half an hour break. What my lecturer suggested was that with time, to slowly increase the length of my work sessions, lengthen your break sessions accordingly as well. I’d suggest keeping each work session to a maximum of 60 mins.
- To-Do lists
The easiest way to get your work done is to first stay organised. Lists are the best way to keep track of what you have to do and what you’ve already done. Before you start studying, make a general list of things you need to have finished before your exam. Once you’ve got that sorted, start dividing your work according to the number of days left.
You can either use an app to keep track of everything you need to get done for the day, or, you can put it up on your wall or vision board, or just write it on a sticky note an paste it somewhere your eyes frequently look at in your room.
Wake up every morning and update this, try and not go to sleep every night without completing at least 75% of what you have to for the day, if you’ve got lots more tasks left to do, then it either means you overestimated yourself or, that you haven’t spent enough time studying.
- Two Minute Rule
I’ve seen articles about the two minute rule all over the internet. What really is this two minute rule?
There’s two parts to the 2 min rule,
- If it takes less than two minutes, do it now – There’s a lot of that we have to do, that we say we’ll do after studying, but we don’t end up doing it. Maybe it’s sending an email, reading an essay and so on. If it takes you less than two minutes to complete, you need to do it not and get it done with for good. This way you’ll actually not have a pile of laundry to out to wash or an entire study table to clean up once your exams are over.
- If you start doing something, it should only take you less than two minutes to start it – Goals can’t be achieved or completed in 2 minutes, but every goal can be started in two minutes or less. If you want to start reading your econ notes, then read the first page of the chapter you want to study and before you know it, you’d be well engrossed in it. Want to start doing a paper? Start with the question and you’ll soon find yourself toward the end of the paper.
- Countdown
A countdown is another great way to freak out every morning and start stressing out about how many days you have left. Although some of you may find this extremely stressful, it actually works wonders. I have an app called Dreamdays whose widget I have on my home page, and I wake up every morning to a countdown of the number of days I have remaining for my exams. At the beginning you find it a tad bit stressful, but with time it acts as a form of motivation to get through your day.
- Don’t be too hard on yourself
This is something I’m guilty of. Remember how I told you making a to-do list every morning will keep you in track the whole day. For weeks I realised how I would only get about 70% of the work completed when actually I’ve spent my day studying. This is when I realised that I’ve been too hard on myself. You see, if you overestimate the amount of tasks you can get done in a day, then chances are you’ll probably end up feeling like a failure when you can’t complete them. This is what I stated feeling and I realised its drastic effects long term. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Set tasks you know you can complete and give yourself enough time to complete them. Also, don’t forget to reward yourself when you’ve completed your list of work for the day.
What you’ve got to do now, is to close your laptop screen and start studying. Don’t leave room for regret. Your social media feed isn’t running anywhere, you can keep up with it after exams. I hope these tips helped you and if they did, maybe you can help someone else going through the same problem by sharing this article. Exams are a problem to us all, so it doesn’t hurt to share some good advice among our friends. If there are certain strategies you practice that you think can help the rest of us, comment below and let us know!
Good Luck with your exams! May the odds be ever in your favour!
