How to sail through your exams with ease

Examinations! This word is monstrous for most of you. If you get some magical powers, examinations will probably be the first thing you’ll get rid of. But, sadly! You haven’t got any of them. So, despite your disliking, you have to take exams and also make sure to pass them all.
As there is nothing you can do about examinations, let’s shift our focus on how you can sail through your monstrous exams with ease.
For this, first of all, let’s explore why do we find exams to be monstrous in the first place?
5 Reasons why examinations are monstrous:
1. You cannot do what you love:
This is the worst thing about examinations. You cannot do what you love. You have to say no to videogames, chatting with friends, parties and a lot more. This makes you feel robbed of the joy of living.
2. There is a lot of syllabus to cover:
You never know what type of questions you will find in the question paper. Although there are a few important topics from which the questions are likely to be framed, there is no certainty about it. So, you don’t want to risk it all and you have to cover the entire syllabus. To sum up, there is a lot to study.
3. You miss your sleep:
Who doesn’t love to sleep? But, examinations make you compromise on your sleep. You have to stay up till late and wake up early in the morning.
4. Exams make you feel stressed:
This makes exams really monstrous for you. They expose you to huge amounts of stress. First of all, you worry about exam preparation. Then, you worry about the results. What if you didn’t score well? Thoughts like these are nerve-racking. So, exams have a lot of stress associated with them.
5. It’s hard to focus on lengthy textbooks, notes, and monotonous text:
Exams make you feel as if your life is all about lengthy textbooks, notes, and monotonous text. You find all this too boring. As a result, you cannot focus but you have to. This is one big reason for your disliking examinations.

These are the different reasons which make examinations monstrous for you. In order to sail through your exams with ease, you have to do something about them. Here is what you can do:
1. Start preparing early on:
I know this is not an easy thing to do. But, if you wish not to give up on things you love, save yourself from piles of the pending syllabus and sleep well even during exams, you have to do it. So, here are some tips to motivate yourself to start preparing for exams at least a month before:
· Visualize how overnight preparation makes you feel: When you don’t feel like studying, try visualizing how overnight study makes you feel. It’s something like overnight studies that wash you in waves of stress and anxiety. The clock keeps ticking and every passing minute increases your tension. You regret not having studied earlier and wished for just one more day to prepare. You are too tired, your eyes want to shut down but you have no option other than to stay up and study. In short, we can say that overnight studies are like ticking bombs of stress. As you visualize all these things, you will start feeling motivated to prevent yourself from suffering the same again.
· Watch study motivation videos: This is a very effective way to ignite study motivation. Whenever you find yourself procrastinating on your exam preparation, just start watching study motivation videos on YouTube. They’ll help you set aside procrastination and start studying in a determined manner.
· Set small targets to achieve every day: One of the biggest reasons why you try to avoid studying is that you find it hard. Big chapters, lots of concepts and complex problems all make it difficult for you to study. In order to deal with this problem, you should set small targets to achieve every day. By doing so, you won’t find it hard to study.
2. Practice Stress management techniques:
Firstly, if you start preparing early on, you won’t suffer as much exam stress as you generally do. However, if you still feel anxious, you can practice stress management techniques. Given below is a list of easy stress management techniques, which you can practice during exams:
· Play for some minutes: Playing is one of the best ways to relieve stress. So, when you feel stressed try playing for some time, even video games can work. But, remember to play for only a few minutes. Under no circumstances, you should exceed 20 minutes of playtime. Otherwise, you’ll lose your track.
· Listen to soft instrumental music: Soft instrumental music makes the mind feel relaxed. So, you can cope with exam stress by listening to some soft music. If you are studying some theoretical subjects, try listening to soft music during breaks. But, if you are studying a numerical subject, you can listen to soft music sideways.
· Talk to your friends: If exam stress tries to buckle you down, try talking to your friends. Tell them all about your worries and anxieties. Soon, you’ll start feeling lighter.
· Practice Deep breathing: Deep breathing increases the supply of oxygen to your brain. As a result, you start feeling calmer and stress relief gets induced. So, whenever you feel stressed, start inhaling deep breaths. Further, you can also practice deep breathing simultaneously while studying. This will help you stay focused and calm.
3. Try some focus boosters:
I know it is hard to focus on studies. But, without focus even long hours of study won’t be effective. So, you have to focus on your studies. Here are some tips to help you with it:
· Use the Pomodoro Technique: Studying for continuous long hours itself kills focus. This makes it important for you to take small breaks after studying for some time. You can use the Pomodoro Technique for this purpose. To implement this technique, you just need a timer, set it to 25 minutes, and start studying. After the 25-minute time period gets over, take a short break for 5 minutes. Further, after 4 consecutive study intervals of 25 minutes each, take a longer break for 20 minutes.
· Designate a proper study space: This is an important thing to do for focused studies. When you study only at your designated study space, you signal your mind that this particular place is to study. So, whenever you sit to study in your study space, your mind automatically starts getting focused.
· Paste a poster of your reason to study on your study table: What is your reason to study? It may be anything like getting good grades, becoming successful, and so on. Whatever it is just create a poster with the reason written on it. Then, paste it on your study table. The moment you feel distracted, start looking at it. This will help you get your focus back.
So, this is how you can sail through your monstrous exams with ease.