By Tahlia Mandie, Direction Exploring     With exam time almost upon us, students may be feeling the pressure and heightened stress, and questioning how well they will remember in the exam what they have studied. Studying can be a very stressful process, with some students possibly feeling little satisfaction.

 Every student will have his or her own special tools and strategies that they use to prepare and study for exams. This may include favourite music they listen to while studying, a special place they study in, or eat or drink special sustenance food to keep them going through the next couple of working hours. All these tools may be very beneficial for some, but may not be for others. Some common study tips include:

1. Study regularly throughout the year:

It is true, if students study throughout the year, they will not feel the need to “cram” their years learning and revision into a couple of weeks. This will then most likely reduce the amount of stress, pressure and anxiety that individuals will feel in this already stressful, precarious time.

2. Have a working timetable:

Create a timetable that divides the number of working hours in a day over the week and place each subject into 1 hour blocks evenly throughout the week. For example, if you have 7 working/studying hours during the week and 7 subjects to study for, each subject should be devoted 1 hour of study. Even if students feel that they have mastered a subject it is still important to give this subject time for revision. Students may need to be flexible and willing to sacrifice other enjoyments in order to give themselves extra time for those subjects they need extra work on.

3. Make sure your teens have time for themselves:

Having time-out and time to do the things students enjoy and love is vital. If sacrifice of this time has happened, it is important students give themselves time back to have fun and have a break. This might include an extra hour or two playing sports or being with friends. Students should coordinate their timetable around their extra curricular activities to guarantee these are not forgotten.  

4. When studying, kids should take regular breaks:

Regular breaks are important for both the mind and body. The brain can only concentrate on something for a certain period of time before the contents students are looking at becomes fuzzy.

5. Eat healthy and exercise regularly:

The food we digest is fuel for the brain and body. Exercise is similarly important for your mind and body to recharge it’s batteries. Exercise increase oxygen and circulation throughout the body, while similarly can help the brain deal better with stress (www.apahelpcenter.org)

The most important point students should remember is to find their own individual routine and study strategies that work for them and their lifestyle. Similarly, students need to focus on what they are working toward and what they hope their study will achieve for them. Having a clear eye on the bigger picture can be a driving force that helps students get through the stressful process of studying.

Tahlia Mandie is a psychotherapist, family counsellor and mum who runs her own private practice, Direction Exploring and now runs her own blog, The Parenting Files - because families matter. Discussing all things parenting and family matters to the serious stuff to the not so serious stuff, the parenting files is spoken with a little witt, quirk and humour. Tahlia also writes regular columns and articles for magazines, newspapers and other online forums.

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