The Last Phase of Exam Preparation

May 3, 2022

You are in the final phase of your preparation. This is an important phase of preparation.

These things helped me in this final phase.

Exams are trying times. Even more than that, the days leading up to the exams are the most crucial. These are the days when we can make or break ourselves. The sleepless nights, the crippling anxiety, the desire to revise everything one more time, all these are persistent. How to deal with them?

Listed below are a few things that just might help if we follow them at least 20 days before exams:

We all follow someone or the other as our idols.

For someone, it might be a celebrity or a sportsperson. For others, it might be a fictional character. If you follow Virat Kohli, prepare like him. Plan 3-4 sessions of 3-4 hours each. If Daenerys Targaryen inspires you, follow her. Remember, how she conquered everything one by one? Cover your syllabus like you want that Iron Throne as bad as her. Complete your chapters one by one. This is high time and we cannot afford to lose even a single minute.

Completely discard all the social media accounts.

Friends can come back when we have a degree. Otherwise, it’ll just be, “I had all and then most of you, some and now none of you.” People go where success goes. We need our books right now, and not gossip.

One of the most important points is to believe in ourselves.

If we don’t believe in ourselves, nobody else will. We are the ones at the sail and we are the master of the sea. We need to remain as calm as is humanly possible.

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Saying positive affirmations

Saying positive affirmations to ourselves will automatically have a positive effect on our study behaviour. Positivity is what will keep us going at this difficult time.

Eating healthy and eating from time to time

Eating healthy and eating from time to time is the key to staying healthy even during the exams. We have seen kids getting ill right before exams. All the hard work done by them goes to waste. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid processed food and sugary substances. Eat almonds. Stay hydrated. Drink water every hour.

Sit Quietly or Meditate.

Like I said, staying calm can be the key to better preparation. Waking up early, enjoying the sunrise, listening to the birds chirping, and feeling the mild breeze kissing our face uplifts our mood more than we can even imagine. Select your favourite spot in your house and take out 5 minutes from your morning to meditate. No complicated YouTube videos or apps are needed. Just follow these simple steps and we’ll be good to go.

Close your eyes and concentrate on your breath.

Inhale from your nose and exhale from it, too. Inhale on count 1 and exhale on count 2. Just follow simple inhale and exhale and focus on your breath. No holding breath and getting into complicated activities. Do this daily to start your day with a calm mind. If we really think about it, 5 minutes is not too much.

Immediately after meditation, do stretch.

Again, no complicated exercises. Just basic simple stretches will be enough. When we sit for long hours and study, our muscles become stiff. Doing simple stretches will relax our muscles.

Go for a walk whenever you get time.

Morning walks can help us with an active start to our days while evening ones can fresh our minds after long hours of studies. Walking after dinner will help with better digestion.

Stay completely away from the TV.

Forget about your Netflix and Amazon Prime subscription. They are looters who take away our money, time and energy. Just a few moments of entertainment can ruin our months of education. “Just one more episode” attitude can lead us to one more attempt. There are a lot of other ways of entertainment.

Talk to your parents.

Talk to anyone you’re comfortable with. Try to find someone who doesn’t drain your energy and positivity like a blood-sucking vampire. Find someone who motivates you and understands you. It can be your parents, siblings, cousins, neighbour, friends, anyone. If you don’t have anyone like that, befriend yourself. Talk to yourself. Start journaling. Note down everything that comes to your mind. There is no better friend than your books and your dear diary. Understanding the importance of journaling is much needed in today’s world where only a few people genuinely care for us.

Make a study plan for the next day before going to bed.

It will give us a base for starting a new day. We will wake up with a purpose. Even if we fail to achieve today’s goal, don’t lose hope. Renew tomorrow’s plan and decide accordingly. Do whatever, but do not stop. Do not waste another day mourning last day’s failure.

Take a bath every day.

Summer or winter, spring or autumn, take bath daily. When our computer glitches, we press F5. What does it do? It refreshes the screen and the computer starts functioning smoothly once again. Similarly, bathing refreshes the human body.

Stop worrying about the results

It is generally seen that students worry about their results so much that they find themselves unable to focus on studies. It should be the other way round. We need to focus on our work right now so that we do not have to worry about our results. Prepare in such a way that there is no scope left for us to fail. All we need to do is, live in the moment and focus on our preparation.

Success is not a straight line.

We need to remember that the road to success is not a straight line. There will be days when we feel low. Then there will be days when we feel high. Lows & highs are an integral part of life.

We just need to remember that every low should be lesser than the previous low and every high should be higher than the previous high.

This will take us to the peak.

Sitting hands in the face are never the solution.

A real warrior is one who gets up and deals with the situation he is presented with. One who can make tools with the scrap provided is the one who goes far ahead down the road called life.

Stay away from unnecessary relationship worries

During this crucial time, stay away from your “Mi Amor” If they are the love of your life, they will support you and wait for you while you make way for your career. If they can’t wait and trap you with “Babu Shona”, you already know where you stand. Sometimes, these things drain your energy.

A real partner is one who inspires you to make your own way towards being an independent personality.

Last but not least – do not rely on the next attempt.

Don’t sit back thinking you don’t have enough time right now so you can prepare for another six months. Time will never be enough. Once we start getting into the comfort zone, there is no going back. Don’t get influenced by anyone and everyone. Waiting till the next attempt for securing rank is not a wise choice. Think of all the possible outcomes and only then take your next step.

For a moment, intelligence might fail but hard work always wins.

Discipline is the only way to move ahead in life.

Staying healthy will take us far. This body that we have been gifted with, needs proper care and attention. If we take care of ourselves, we will go a long way.