The Leaving Cert is one of those rites of passage that most of us have to endure but that doesn’t make it any easier.
Powered by Lucozade Energy, we’ve got some top tips to help you get the most out of your exam preparation and while you’re currently buried in a pile of books, Post-Its and pencils, the exams will soon be over and you’ll be dancing with joy once you get that results slip!
1) Get organised
No, we don’t mean spend four hours separating your notes into colour coded sections in an effort to avoid actually studying. Instead, take a little time to look at what you need to revise, how much time you have and make a realistic schedule of what you can cover on any given day. This means that you’ll avoid wasting an hour decided what to focus on and it will also calm you down once you see that the mountain of work is a little more doable. Don’t forget to gather everything you need well in advance as there’s nothing worse than a missing compass on the morning of an exam!
2) Make notes…but keep them brief
Summary pages are brilliant for refreshing material in your head before an exam but attempting to fit everything down will only leave you confused and stressed. Take one A4 page per section of the paper and only write down the essentials, such as formulas for a Maths exam and key plot points of your chosen texts for an English paper. Have a read through before you go in but don’t try to learn new material as you’ll just confuse yourself. Trust that your hard work will pay off and all that info is already stored in that head of yours!
3) Take breaks
We’ve all been there. It’s the night before an important exam, you’ve realised that you’ve forgotten everything you’ve ever learned and there are just not enough minutes between now and 9am to learn it all again. Luckily, this is just panic and you have not developed sudden-onset amnesia. If you try and overload your brain with information, things will get worse so pick a topic, spend an hour or two on it and then pop down for a quick cup of tea and a chat with your sibling/family member. You’ll be a lot more productive when you return.
4) Take it easy on the caffeine
While it might be tempting to stock up on the coffee in order to pull an all-nighter before that dreaded Maths exam, trust us when we say this is a bad idea. You may feel like Superwoman for an hour or two and fly through that algebra at warp speed but before long, the buzz will have worn off and you’ll be left feeling exhausted and in no fit state for anything. Instead, keep hydrated with lots of water.
5) Pull together
You’re not alone, there are thousands of students across Ireland in the same boat and this can be reassuring when you feel like you’re about to spontaneously combust from stress. Call a classmate, have a look on Twitter and try and be as encouraging as you can when talking to others as this will remind you that what you’re feeling is completely normal. Just be careful not to compare yourself to anyone else. Everyone studies in their own way and has their own goals so don’t panic because someone in Leitrim is focusing on a different poet to you!
6) Get some perspective
Yes, the Leaving Certificate is scary and seems like the most important thing that you will ever complete but we promise that in a few years, you won’t even remember what points you got. Hopefully, with a bit of hard work and focus, you’ll get exactly what you need to move on to the next stage but if not, you are not doomed to a miserable existence. You can repeat, you can take an access course, you can try a different route into your chosen profession. Regardless of the outcome, you’ve got a very exciting life ahead!
Good luck!
