Exam Stress

Ahhh its that dreaded time of the year. 'Term Tests'. I usually start studying like a month before they even hand out the exam timetable but I have only two weeks for exams to start. I especially hate it when teachers put two exams on one day to try and get exams done in a week like honestly - what were y'all even thinking?!?

And I've made such little progress trying to cram everything in all at once. Ugh. I know some people reading this must be thinking ' wth this girl is freaking out over term tests while we're here with people dying over a level exams and getting into Harvard' - I get it. But to me it means a lot. I'm sure it meant a lot to y'all too at my age. Just think about it - if you didn't freak out over term tests and try to do well at them, would you have gotten to the point where you got good grades for ALs? NO. I cried over this for days, putting myself down thinking I'm not gonna make it (sounds pretty dramatic, riggght?) but that's all over now. You gotta deal with this stress and I'm gonna teach you how.

First, STOP WHINING ABOUT THIS SHIT.

That ain't getting you anywhere. Yeah I cried but I wouldn't get anything into my head if I just stayed that way.

At this point, I realized I can't get through this, at least, not by myself. So I turned to the one person I should've just gone to in the first place - God. I started praying - asking for help and wisdom and the mind to concentrate when I try to study cuz lemme tell you this - its the devil who distracts you to make you fail. So you gotta ask Jesus to help you out and help you not get distracted:

Ask Him to help you understand what you read. And completely surrender yourself to Him and say that you can't do get through the exams without Him cuz in reality, you NEVER get through exams ever without Him, so you might as well acknowledge that fact. Just do it. Don't think about it twice because trust me, prayer helps. I'll guarantee that.

Second, FIND THE RIGHT PLACE AND HAVE THE RIGHT MINDSET.

Find a calm and quiet place, away from annoying bros and yelling parents (hehehe sorry mom and dad. if you're reading this by any chance, I love you.).

Make sure the place is cleaned up and organized cuz that kinda helps you to focus - take out only the things you really really need like a pen and pencil and a random book for notes and your actually text book and notebook. Next, just sit down and motivate yourself saying "I can do this. You can do this. This isn't the end of the world."

Third, SETTLE DOWN.

You have to actually sit down and begin to get things done. Being an A-class procrastinator, it was tough for me to stop whining an giving excuses for not studying, but I had to start somewhere.

So if its tough, just do this - take out one of your books - say, physics - and start reading. Don't worry about not understanding (remember you already prayed to understand what you read). Just keep reading and eventually you'll understand something and this will spark an interest for that subject in you.

But this doesn't mean you have to continuously study and study and exhaust yourself. Take a break - but don't let it last for more than 45 mins, otherwise you may find it a bit difficult to get your mind back on what you were studying earlier. Also during exams, there isn't a law in the world that says you can't watch a movie or go out to have ice cream. You need to take a chill pill after all that energy you put in to write those goddamn answers and all those days cramming in as much info as possible. So after one exam is over, even if you still have a few more the next day, don't worry. Just relax. Sleep after having lunch. Go watch the currently trending movie at the cinemas with sum of dat caramel popcorn. Don't go back home and continue raging at your notes instead, just sleep or watch your favorite series or read book. This helps you to destress and prepare your mind for the next exam.

And one important thing - don't turn NOCTURNAL. You need minimum 8 hours of sleep for you to feel refreshed and for everything you studied the previous day to actually stick in your head.

People complain about not remembering anything they read the previous night but the reason for that is they drink way too much coffee to keep them awake till 2am to study and go have just a few hours of sleep and get up to go to school and go irritated and rage against everyone you come in contact with. Because you didn't have any sleep, you wouldn't even be able to remember anything taught in school, so don't do that man. Just don't. It's not cool.

Finally, DON'T WORRY.

Like I said, it ain't the end of the world. Just do your best, and God will do the rest. There's more to life than just this.