With the current circumstances warranting students – especially those pursuing higher studies to exercise more caution than ever health-wise as well as maintaining continuity in studies, smart methodologies of studies are seemingly the only way out if a balance between life indoors and studies is to be achieved. Under these not-so-favourable conditions, students getting set to face various competitive examinations naturally tend to experience anxiety, stress, and even fear when it comes to preparing for their exams given that the present circumstances do not favour students going out for their regular academic and non-academic activities. Hence, with studying for competitive exams in the new normal being the focal point, we tend to throw light on certain effective study tips to beat the stress as well as ensure academic continuity. Check out these tips below:
Firstly, managing time is key. Though it seems like there is a great amount of time when students have to learn academics from the comfort of their homes, mastering time management skills and allocating comparatively more time to the priority tasks (academic aspects) is a key criteria that could be fulfilled to ensure that there is significant time for mastering (learning) the non-priority and secondary priority academic aspects as well.
Irrespective of where studies happen, effective time management strategies help students to study smart. Put timelines for yourself and break down your study schedule into different parts. Prioritize each part based on their importance, master them first and then go to the next level. This ensures that the important aspects are first learnt leading to a degree of academic security as far as learning is concerned. Also, you could even spare time for your non-study related activities during the day.
Then, always reflect on whatever you have learnt. It need not be entire units in a single day. Even if you have mastered only a micro-concept within a unit in a day as per your study planner, do reflect on it before you retire for the day. This cultivates confidence and holds you in good stead before the commencement of your exam. Here, remember to stay calm and composed. Reflect and recall are perfect foundations (in addition to time management) in your bid to crack competitive examinations. Stress levels are automatically lowered through confidence which recalling brings with it.
Finally, turn an exam warrior. You can do this by increasing your self worth and focussing on positives in your preparation (for the exam) rather than feeling negative and believing that the competitive exam you have chosen is hard to crack. Track your positive thought patterns, document these everyday till your examinations are over. During preparations, you can focus on these documented thought patterns which makes you feel more confident and motivated to study and crack the exam.
So, before you begin your preparation for the competitive exam you have chosen to crack, ponder on the above MRE (managing time, reflect & recall, exam warrior) approach. You may not regret it..