Exam Stress & Coping

Luckily this year I don't have any exams but I know plenty of people who are stressing out completely over the thought of the next two/three weeks filled with as/a2 and uni exams so I thought this little post would be a great help in the upcoming weeks! I used to get terribly nervous at school with the pressure of exams and doing well but a few years down the line I've learnt a few things to keep me calmer and less stressed around exam time & if someone had put one of these together a few years ago it probably would have probably helped me a lot! 

1. The most important thing is to keep organised, always find out exactly when your exams are and then make a revision timetable making it as realistic as possible - that way you'll having a better chance of sticking to it. Don't forget to pencil in things you can't avoid like appointments & most importantly sleep and then revise around that. If you do this well in advance, you can even make a countdown on an app or the old fashioned way on your calendar and give yourself more than enough time to write notes AND learn them, cramming last minute is never good! 

2. Make enough to do lists to last you a lifetime. If you need to write a to do list for how many sections you still have notes to write for or if there's something you don't understand and need to ask someone about, write it down, it keeps you on top of everything plus it's ever so satisfying scribbling out what you've completed. 

3. Put your social life on hold and stay off social media, you don't need distracting. This may sound like something your parents would say a lot but really putting two weeks aside to revise is beneficial in the long run, staying off Facebook or snapchat although we all love them, it'll do us a world of good not talking about pointless things instead of studying. Plus the way I see it after the two weeks you've got the entire summer to enjoy it with your friends and you'll know you've done your best in your exams, a win win really. 

4.  Write in blue and keep things pretty. I remember reading somewhere that writing in blue helps you learn things better, it must stand out on the page more, maybe it's phscological but I've definitely wrote all of my notes in blue since and it's seemed to have worked. Also highlighters, colourful post its and cute stationary are also a major motivator, if something looks nicer you're more likely to be drawn to it and important notes wrote on coloured paper or mates often stick in your head better because they stand out more.

5. Don't write too much, it's a thing. Sometimes writing notes seems ideal but know when to stop, usually 30 odd pages later and realise if you keep writing you'll find it impossible to actually learn the information on them. This just comes from looking at your notes and picking out only the real,y important pieces of information, there's no point learning stuff that you don't need, it'll only stress you out more! 

6. Find somewhere quiet. In the run up to exams these days I lock myself in my bedroom, literally and don't come out except for the odd meal break. It's really peaceful, I'm one of those people that needs silence to concentrate so find somewhere quiet to study like a local library - no matter how many times you try to argue you can learn with music on and earphones in, you can't really. 

7. Find out what works best for you. A lot of people (if they're not lucky enough to have photographic memory which I'm always jealous of) write plenty of notes and some people are lucky enough to learn as they do that, then some people re-read their notes and the new information and then there's me who practically reads everything until I've it all memorised and can rhyme it off near word for word. I know this doesn't work for a lot of others but it does for me, if only I'd of known this 5 years ago... Also diagrams can be a great help for learning key points but try & find out what works best and go with it. 

8. Recall things & test yourself. If you're stuck on something or can't remember something completely test yourself by doing the old school, learn, cover and write (or in this case recite the information) ask someone whether it be a friend, other half or family member to test you on it until you get it right. My mums been hassled enough over the years with "can you test me on this?", I'm surprised she hasn't hit me with something heavy just yet! 

9. Don't over panic!  If you set aside the time & learn your stuff for you exam you'll do wonderfully, don't panic or have a breakdown before the exam. You'll be surprised how much comes back to you when you're sitting in the exam hall p.s revising past papers also helps a lot too so you always know what to expect or the layout of the paper but other than that there's nothing you can do - cramming is never the option. 

So there's my exam tips and tricks that I hope come in handy to someone, I know this is length but hopefully it's worth reading if it helps & if you are sitting exams soon, good luck! 

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo 

P.s what're your exam tips and tricks? Are you panicking over upcoming exams? 

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My University Experience.

I've maybe wrote this post ten times already but I just don't know how to word everything or maybe its just because I don't write that many personal posts on here but I know a lot of people will be starting University either this week or next and I know that if I had of had someone to talk to about University two years ago, I would have been much more prepared and relaxed so here's a bit about my University experience. 

Back in 2012, seems a while ago now I stressed about not getting into University, probably more than I should have but I really wanted to carry on with education and luckily I got the grades. Within the first week I was ready to call it quits on University in general, since I wasn't living in halls I didn't know anyone and I'm shy enough anyway so I spent a lot of time being quiet and reading and then running for a train and I just wasn't enjoying myself at all. Luckily enough our course had a 3 day residential and over that time I made friends with my roommate, a girl who literally lived down the road from me (like I mean five minutes), we were both fairly alike and she was travelling for the next year like me, what a match! After that the two of us made about 8/9 new friends and I was suddenly happy & ready to start my second week of University, plus I wouldn't have to make that 3 hour daily train journey on my own. 

The classes themselves were interesting, the lecturers were more than helpful and although it was a struggle at times (maths and statistics are not my strong point) I finished my first semester with good grades. The only thing I'd been lacking in is going out for nights out like some of my other friends, however in the second semester I found a balance and I used to stay in one of my friends houses for 2 days and I went out at night too and we also paid our deposit for our second year house, as I really wanted to get a balance of living away at least one year so we were all excited for second year as well, Soon enough it was exam time and I finished off first year with a 2:1 feeling quite proud with what I'd achieved, I know its the Christmas holidays and you don't want to revise but it does pay off! 

Second year was almost right around the corner and it was exciting to be moving away, buying new things, living without parents and all that. Our house was gorgeous, not what you'd expect from a student house in the slightest and we were a ten minute walk away from the beach, what more could we want. For freshers we went out four nights out of the five and from then on we went out nearly every Tuesday and Wednesday night and successfully made it into class the next day at 9am without resembling a zombie, well I didn't, my friends not so much. The classes were more challenging than the first year and the work load was definitely a lot more but if you managed your time well and stayed organised, a planner is essential, then you weren't stressing 2 hours before the deadline - unless the printer in the library brakes and then all hell breaks loose, trust me! 

I was definitely pushed out of my comfort zone a lot more, think presentations in front of 60/70 odd people and I'm really not one for public speaking but in the end I was proud I was able to do so and that felt much better. The second semester we went on a fieldtrip to Cyprus that I posted about at the time and that brought the whole class together and we all bonded even more than we had done in the past two years which was lovely, a night of karaoke with the lecturers did happen. In May it was exam time and I was stressed beyond belief, I didn't have as much time to revise as I would have liked and I came out of my exam thinking I'd failed but when the results came out in July it turned out I hadn't, in fact I was given an award for achieving the best results in my year so that just shows if you're still organised, prioritise your work when you have free time instead of taking mid afternoon naps and revise you can still go out for drinks two nights a week and get good grades, so that myth that you can't is a big lie. It's up to you how well you do, no one else. 

And currently, I should be at Freshers and preparing for my final year of University with about half of my class but instead I'm typing here and I don't honestly know what I'm doing for the next year, its a little worrying yes but I'm coping. I'll be doing a placement year and if I thought I was going to be out of my comfort zone with a class presentation, I'll definitely be out of it now. I'm not sure where exactly I'm going at the minute, heck I haven't even sent my student finance away but I'm glad to have had an extra year before going into my final year, essays, my dissertation and yet more essays. Soon enough it'll be time for graduation and I'm not ready for that. University has given me so many wonderful experiences so far and I'm so glad after that first week that I was able to stick it out. I didn't live in halls and still made friends, don't panic you will. I went out and enjoyed myself with the social aspect of uni and still got good grades. I didn't travel too far away for University and I've had a mix of living there and at home. The only thing I would change is getting involved in more clubs and societies but I'm not beating myself up about it. 

I'm sorry that this is such a lengthy post, I really am but I know a lot of people are just starting University and reading something like this might help, if you've made it to the end, thanks :) Also if you have any questions at all about University, even if you think its a silly one, don't be scared to ask, as I said I'd rather have been able to ask someone two years ago than know nothing. Just don't stress!

Thank you for reading, Jenny xo    

P.s if you do have questions, don't hesitate to comment or even email me if you don't want to publically, I'll try and help as much as I can :) 

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Weekly Ramble #2

So this week has definitely been a bit of a whirlwind and look who's finally getting all high tech with photos and making collages for you guys! (this is a big thing for me, I'm such an eejit but it makes the layout so much nicer). Anyways this is a bit of an insight into my past week, the main thing being my University Formal and the build up to it. 

The week had been a hectic one and involved a lot of running around like a headless chicken, I suppose it goes to show formal prep can be done in a week (I dont recommend it but it's achievable). I actually uploaded a post earlier on in the week about my formal haul (link here: Uni Formal Haul post) and I suppose these photos are the finished outcome as all of the products purchased were used either before or on the night. 

Everyone looked like absolute princesses and it was so nice to have an excuse to dress up for once, at university, well on my course anyways, it's more of an everyone chucks on whatever they can find in the mornings rather than carefully planning and styling outfits. The first photo is of my friend Sheila and I, far too many selfies were taken around the dinner table which was probably my fault and this was one of the nicer ones, the top middle photo was taken after dinner and showed off the full length of the dresses (I swear mine was a beautiful dark purple colour although no photo taken on the night did it justice). The rest of the photos show everyones full length outfits as well and basically a lot of carpet and background flowers, hey least they're nice. Lastly the bottom middle photo is of my corsage which I was kindly bought - again it's a terrible photo but it was lovely and smelt absolutely amazing, it also had tiny diamonds in the centre of the flower and had a pearl bracelet instead of those that you tie which are usually a lot of hassle, so I was really pleased about that.

Also I didn't realise until I was posting this that I hadn't included a picture of my new shoes that I'd bought for formal and in all honesty they were the accessory I was most excited about wearing and I'm not a huge glittery person. They are the most perfect things and actually did the trick of making me look tall for once without my feet killing the next day. 

As you can tell the formal took up most of my week and the preparation that went towards it but I wouldn't have had it any other way, it was a wonderful night and I'm just glad that there's a possibility of another one in the next year or two. Hope everyone enjoyed reading my ramblings this week, it really did reflect the post title for once but any excuse to dress up and look pretty I guess. 

Thank you for reading, Jenny xo