My top 10 exam study tips

So, if you are like me, exams are approaching, and fast.
I am personally in my last year of International Baccalaureate (IB), and my first exam is the 30th of April, which is in about 9 weeks. I am in the mids of making a study plan, as I will be having 12 exams in the span of 2 weeks.
The subjects I am taking are: Norwegian, English, Math, Economics and Biology, and I also took Spanish last year and had my exams in that subject then.
A lot of these tips are very general and kind of cliche, but trust me, they work!
So I am going to stop rambling now, and lets get right into the tips.

1. Get enough sleep
   This is so incredibly important! Getting enough sleep helps to refresh your brain and body, so you are able to focus on your studies. Do not stay up late at night studying, it will cause more harm than good. Instead, have your alarm clock an hour earlier in the morning and get up and study then. Trust me, for last minute revision, this will be your saviour. (Getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night is optimal)

2. Drink enough water
   The importance of staying hydrated is often underestimated. Drinking enough water so you are hydrated helps your brain to stay focused and actually remember what you are reading.

3. Eat good food, both for the body and the soul
   You have probably heard this one before, but eat healthy food! Seriously, just like hydration, eating good, wholesome food helps your brain stay focused while studying. Stuff like: Fruit, Vegetables, Nuts, Seeds and Oats fuels your body and brain, and is so damn important! But, do not forget to fuel your soul and mind as well. Reward yourself with food you love from time to time, it is just as important as eating healthy. If you are a chocolate fanatic (like myself), do not completely cut out chocolate! You will go insane and completely lose your focus while studying. It is just as important to fuel your soul as it is to fuel your physical body when studying for exams.

4. Exercise
   Yes, we have all heard this before, exercise helps you stay focused while studying, but it is true! Exercise is so helpful as it refreshes your mind and body, so you can go back to studying with a renewed strength. Try it!

5. Get fresh air
   Just like exercise, fresh air helps your brain to relax and reboot, so you can go back to your studying with better focus (and less of a headache).

6. Make a revision plan
   If you have several subjects to study for, or even several papers within the same subject, making a revision plan is crucial!

7. Figure out what you know
   When making your revision plan, write down every chapter and subtopic you need to know for the exam. Then, get our three colours, like: Green, Yellow and Red. Then, figure out how confident you feel about each topic, and colour code according to that. Green if you know it well, Yellow if you know a little, and Red if you have no clue.

8. Break down your revision
   If you do not break down your revision, you will look at everything you need to know and feel very overwhelmed. This can lead to you panicking that you will never get through it before the exams and that you will fail completely. Breaking your revision down into different segments and splitting the revision into for example: A week will really help lower your stress levels.

9. Change up your revision
   Sticking to only reading and writing notes when studying can get very boring after a while, and you will likely lose your motivation very quickly. Changing up your revision, can make it easier, and dare I say, more fun to study for your exams(?) Instead of just sitting in your room studying on your own, you can make a study group with your friends, so you can all help both yourselves and each other understand the syllabus. Another way I like to study is to involve one of my parents or my brother who usually knows nothing of all the stuff I need to know for the exams, and learn it to them. This will help you understand the stuff you thought you knew in different ways, as your parents/siblings will probably be asking questions you had not thought of beforehand.

10. Do not forget to have fun
    This is honestly the most important tip out of all of these. If you do not make time for yourself, to either go to a movie, hang out with friends or just have a you night with drinks and facemasks, you will go insane. You need time away from your studies in order to refresh and relax your brain, otherwise you will hit the wall and likely not do as well on your exams as you would have liked.

Those were my top 10 tips when studying for your exams, hope they were helpful in some ways! Remember, no matter how your exams go, you are not a failure!

I believe in you, you can do it!