We don’t need to tell you that exams are coming – and perhaps more quickly than you’d like. We don’t need to tell you that, in a matter of months, it’ll all be over. But think about this: through effective planning and a bit of the old (surely patented by now) “smart study”, you can really reduce your workload when exams do roll around. Future you will surely thank current you for making an effort, and for going the extra mile.

Benefits of studying less.

Now, don’t get us wrong here – we’re not saying you don’t need to study, or that revision isn’t important. In fact, to the contrary – revision is paramount! But perhaps just as important is the context of that study. How are you studying? When are you studying? Factors like these can easily get overlooked.

The basic idea is that pulling all-nighters and smashing the 3am coffees probably isn’t the most effective study going around, particularly if it’s really close to exam day. And that’s an important point: not all study is equal. Even if you complete the exact same study session – same location, same notes, same duration – its efficacy is very likely to change depending on whether it’s three weeks before an exam, or twenty minutes before.
exam period

Ultimately, more revision immediately before and during the exam period is not necessarily a good thing. For one, you’d have to question how effective that study is. If you’re studying through the night and have a 9am exam the next day, how much of that information are you actually going to remember? But on top of that, it seems logical that you’ll be a whole lot more stressed if you’re trying to wedge everything into the last moment before the exam.

If you’re stressed and tired walking into the exam hall, you’ve already lost half the battle. It would be like Roger Federer turning up to the final of the Australian Open on no sleep, with a rolled ankle, and with a pounding headache. It’s just not smart.

So whilst it’s still important to keep yourself sharp throughout the exam period, and to make sure you’re fully on top of all the content, your best bet is good preparation before the exam period even begins. What you should aim for is to study less during the most taxing times, but still study more overall – and yep, this is definitely possible!

wot u mean you can study less but still more bro?

It’s a pretty simple philosophy, actually: “work now, play later”. If you can get a good grip on your subjects sooner rather than later, you’ll be setting yourself up for exam success. And I know what you might be thinking right now: “easier said than done – I’m still worrying about learning content for my upcoming test”, and like, fair call. But what I’m advocating here isn’t a strenuous six-hour study session per night so that you’re fully on top of everything by August. What I’m advocating is more, like, an extra five minutes of study here, or touching on what you’ve already learnt from the start of the year when you can.

Consider this: you’ve already started studying for your exams, even if it doesn’t feel like. Everything you’ve learnt this year is practically exam revision – you’ve been killing two metaphorical birds with one metaphorical stone all along. But it’s really the extra exam revision that will help – going over previous concepts, touching again on things you got wrong earlier in the year. Things like that.

exam period

Say there are two students: Student A, and Student B (creative names – clearly not my biggest strength). Student A decides they’re not going to focus on exams at all until September. Cool – that’s fine. When September comes around, they try to get themselves into gear, only to realise how much work is before them. They do their best to cover it all before the exam period. In fact, they do really well. But it takes its toll on them. Some sleepless nights and a lot of stress later, they walk into the exam hall completely burnt out. They don’t perform that well on exams.

Student B, on the other hand, decides they’re going to start exam revision right now. Not a ridiculous amount, because they obviously still have other work to focus on, but enough to make a difference. Every now and then, they chip away at the exam revision. Come the exam period, they’re nervous, but feeling relatively confident and on top of things. They can balance themselves more effectively throughout exams, and don’t miss much if any sleep for the sake of study. They walk into the exam hall pretty fresh. They perform super well.

Essentially, this is what we’re looking at:

exam period

Student A studies heaps in September/October/November, whilst Student B is consistent from July onward. Student B ends up in a better position overall – and that’s not even taking into account levels of stress etc.

From little things, big things grow.

As hopefully we’ve established, all you need to do at the moment is to start chipping away at things. Nothing disastrously taxing – just enough to make your life easier come the end of the year. And if you think about it, practically any study you do now (within reason) will have that effect.

The earlier you start that process of chipping away, too, the longer you have to work on your shortcomings. If you only found out in October that you’re no good at writing extended response questions, you’re giving yourself barely any time to improve. But if you make that realisation in, say, July, you still have months up your sleeve.

That’s really the crux here: you can gain great benefit from making small strides now, opening up the way for a much easier path later on. Remember: not all study is equal.

If you’re looking for more specific advice on dealing with exam preparation, check out this forum thread. Best of luck with your exam revision!