This may be your life but it is also the life of every single student ever. It’s a cycle that repeats annually, as each new cohort seems convinced that they are the exception to this rule and they alone can make the ‘gargantuan effort now and none later’ model get them through exam season. Yet, every year the same students are burnt out and exhausted come exam time – struggling to stay awake, let alone pick up a pen. As a second year student, Jennifer says, “I feel like all I do is revise now to the point that when I’m not revising I just lie in bed,” reflecting the key issue with this classic approach – that it leaves no room for self-care. But where do we go from here?

The answer comes in the form of a message that wouldn’t be out of place on an inspirational poster pinned up on a notice board: balance is everything. In order to juggle good grades and positive mental wellbeing, we need to first ask ourselves if there aren’t too many oranges up in the air. What this entails is not another timetable or carefully devised schedule but an active effort to compartmentalise.

Instead of studying for an allotted time of three or four hours in one shot, taking a scheduled break of doom-scrolling on social media at the same spot at your desk for an allotted time of thirty minutes (which turns into two hours), and subsequently throwing the whole day away as a wasted effort, perhaps you need to change your approach to the initial studying itself.

What about making a list of assignments for the day rather than a hit list of tasks for the hour? What about breaking up these assignments into smaller, more digestible exercises that work towards an end goal? What about studying in one room for a shorter burst of forty minutes and moving to a different room entirely for a fifteen minute break? These are all minor alterations that could entirely alter your approach towards revision and exams themselves, until the exam itself becomes the end goal you’re slowly but steadily working towards through consistent effort rather than through sporadic bursts fueled by flailing panic. 

Colleges and sixth-forms make up the last two years before a lot of young people set off into the wider world, whether it be through universities, apprenticeships, or straight into work. Therefore, this lead up to exam season is a shining opportunity for reevaluation and personal growth towards a more constructive and permanently self-sufficient mindset of a young adult. It’s time to invest in your future self.