Surviving Exam Block
Author Hannah Trotter
Exam time! It must be because the ground around my house is a beautiful shade of mauve thanks to the falling Jacaranda blossoms! I never much liked Jacaranda’s when I was at uni but these days I love them! However for all of you lovely law students out there I suspect you are head down, books open right now and this week fellow ‘soon to be lawyer’, Hannah Trotter is sharing her tips on how to survive your exam block!
Clarissa
It’s October! It couldn’t possibly be but, it is! I know this because Brisbane’s weather has turned a bizarre mixture of rainy and sweaty, Christmas decorations are dazzling the shelves of department stores and my Instagram is filled with people designing and creating Halloween costumes. Most importantly for university students everywhere, it’s exam time! That’s right folks, time to pull up a cubicle in the library, print out those lecture slides and organise a tab with your universities’ below average coffee cart. Talk about the silly season!
If you’re anything like me, you are in the throes of submitting final assessments, catching up on classes you didn’t realised you’d missed and feeling that strange numbing sensation that occurs as exam block looms closer. Have no fear friends, for I have gallantly volunteered to spend a few moments procrastinating from my studies to share with you my tips and tricks for surviving exams.
1. Don't Wait For SWOTVAC
It seems obvious but, if you’re anything like me, you’re repeating my go-to mantra of “there’s time! You’ve got a whole week without classes to prepare! You’re on top of this!” It doesn’t matter how organised and brilliant you think your notes are, if you’re binging the latest season of the Good Place on Netflix, you’re not preparing yourself for exam period!
2. Organise Your Food Situation!
I am the queen of thinking first about the study, second about the pressure and, with whatever time and energy is left, remembering my well-being. Exam time can easily become a rush of craziness in which your local Uber Eats courier becomes your best friend. This won’t help your brain, your bank balance or your physical health. Set aside some time each week to prepare good nutritious food that will sustain you through copious hours of study and stress. I steal recipes from my friend Sarah at Baked Livingness to get me by! Side note: You can download Sarah’s free mini e-book here – I’m not sponsored, she’s just amazing!
3. Stretch Those Legs!
I study the way I snooze my alarm. I sit down and when I open my eyes to the world again, hours have passed and I haven’t read nearly enough content. I’ve found the best way to retain information is to take it for a spin- literally. I pick up my notes and we go for a walk. Sometimes it’s pacing throughout the house- other times I wander around my street. Yes, I look like a crazy person honing their orienteering skills like 4th year students on excursion but, I find my brain works best when I’m up out of my chair and moving about.
4. Tell Your Friends You're Busy!
This year is ending and social calendars are filling up. You don’t want to seem like that student who doesn’t see the outdoors between the months of September and November but, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. It’s best to get ahead of these things so, shoot your comrades a text and let them know you love them but you’ll be ignoring them for the foreseeable future. Adios amigos!
5. Inhale and Exhale
Exams are stressful but before you know it, they’re over. It is okay to take a minute, re-evaluate all your life decisions and career aspirations and just breathe. The reality is, by the time next semester rolls around, you will have forgotten half of the content you crammed and be way less concerned about the immense pressure you felt this semester. Priority number one this exam season is to take a step back, check in on yourself and know that, no matter what, it’s going to be okay.
It’s taken three years of struggling through exam season to come to these embarrassingly simple strategies. You probably have your own and think mine are insane but, each to their own! There is however, one universal tip I think we can all agree on. Over the next few weeks, campuses across Australia will be overflowing with nervous energy, stress and crippling fear of what’s to come. Above all, be kind to one another. Buy that terrified first year a Flat White. Smile at the second year who looks like they’re about to drop out. We will all be better off for it!
Happy studying
Hi there! I’m Hannah and I am a law student currently in my third year at Queensland University of Technology. I graduated high-school in 2014 completely clueless about who I was, what I wanted and how I intended to get there. To many people’s surprise (including my own) I moved from my family farm on the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane to start my law degree in 2016.
Following my first year I commenced work as the Receptionist at Brisbane Family Law Centre. Having worked with this amazing team for nearly 2 years, I have been given a learning opportunity that goes beyond lectures and tutorials by providing a practical experience of the world of Law. My experience as part of the BFLC team has taught me that a Law career does not have to fit into a traditional box which has ignited a new passion for my studies as well as my future career in the legal profession.
In the meantime, I’ll stick to writing musicals, drinking coffee and playing board games.