How to manage stress for a better study career

Stress

• Learn how to deal with stress. First realize that you have little or no control over your outside world. Focus on what you CAN change. The most influence you can have is over your own reaction. Focus your limited energy on places where you can make a difference and for things out of your control, you will need to learn to let go! Second, make priorities and then live your life as if those priorities actually mean something to you. You may have to make yourself a priority. If you burn out, you are no good to anyone else. Rebuild your energy and your stability. Then you can give to others.
• Time is a resource you never get back. Priorities become even more important. Model = "WINNER". "What's Important Now? Never Ever Regret". Be mindful of the present priority.
• When you make a priority list and then CHOOSE what to concentrate on; that gives you power. Goals add spice to life. Many who are depressed lack priorities and goals. Clear priorities and goals will give you a better attitude.
  

How to reduce overstressing:

Do the right thing; Share your burdens with someone close; Learn to say no; Stay positive; Make life fun; Plan to succeed; Stop procrastinating; Make life regular and organized; Balance time for work, play & rest; Set goals and prioritize; Take care of you; Have friends; Write; Manage anger; Avoid pick-me-ups like caffeine & sugar; Stop put-me-downs; Get outside; Exercise even if you simply take a walk; Take care of your spirit.

Be realistic about expectations for yourself!

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Best tips for exam days

You attended classes all semester. In the weeks and days before the exam, you studied and reviewed more intensively. Now the day of the exam is here. By following a few mental, physical, and psychological strategies, you can get an even higher score. Here are some basic tips for those crucial few hours. Clearly, what you do on this day can make or break your grade!

Physical Strategies

Sleep: Get enough sleep the night before the exam. If you’re dull-headed because of a lack of sleep, you won’t be able to perform at your best. Sleep a few extra hours instead of studying a few extra hours.

Food: Eat moderately before your exams; avoid a heavy meal. If you eat too much, your brain will have to devote energy to the process of digestion. On the other hand, if you skip a meal altogether, your brain will have inadequate fuel to function well. Aim for nutritional balance and moderation.

Alcohol: Don’t drink the night before your exam. Alcohol upsets the chemical balance in your body and affects the way your brain functions. It could also give you a hangover, which would be a serious difficulty on exam day!

Drinks: Avoid drinking diuretics that contain caffeine such as coffee, tea or cola, which could make you need to use the washroom more often. 

Water: Your body and your brain need water. Research has proven that your brain performs more efficiently when well-hydrated. Drink enough water, but not so much that you need to use the washroom.

 

Temperature: The aim is to be as comfortable as possible during your exam so you’re not distracted by physical needs or concerns. Take a sweater or jacket along in case of excessive air-conditioning or lack of sufficient heating. Choose a seat near a window for fresh air, if possible, but also avoid the window if there’s a lot of noise outside. Arriving early may allow you to select the seat you feel most comfortable in.

Breathing: Deep breathing involves breathing slowly and deeply. Start by inhaling through your nose. Make sure your chest does not expand – if it does you are breathing in a shallow way.
Instead, expand your belly with each breath, while your chest remains unchanged. Try to reach a count of 6 on each in breath, and 6 on each out breath. When you have mastered this process, you can add a pause of 6 seconds between the inhaling and exhaling breath.

Apply Brain Gym techniques: This program of simple exercises can enhance learning and performance by improving the brain’s neural pathways. Students of all ages have achieved higher test scores after engaging in a short brain gym session. Learn more about these simple techniques and give yourself an edge.

Psychological Techniques

Positive Visualization: This is a powerful psychological technique that can be used to enhance your positive feelings and diminish the negative ones. It is based on the fact that the mind and body are powerfully interconnected. You can create changes in your heart rate, skin temperature, and brainwave patterns by the thoughts you evoke. You can use this information to your advantage before and during your exam. Imagine a positive outcome; see yourself doing well, recalling the information easily and remaining clam and in control.

Handling Anxiety: Practice deep breathing techniques if you find yourself becoming nervous or overwhelmed. By breathing correctly, you can provide your brain with fuel to help it perform better.

Arrive early: This will help you avoid unnecessary stress in the immediate period before your exam. Allow for traffic, check the weather reports for exam day, or even travel to an external exam location in advance to get an idea of how long it will take you to travel there on the day of the exam.

Avoid nervous students: While waiting for the exam to begin, avoid speaking to any nervous students and absorbing their negative energy. It’s preferable to stay confident and focused on doing well on the exam.

 

Bring necessary materials: Keep extra materials such as pens, pencils, calculators, rulers, or compasses packed and ready the night before the exam so you have time to locate or even purchase any misplaced or lost items. Knowing you have everything you need will make you feel calmer and well-prepared.

Mental Strategies

Review output: If you have some time before the exam, use it to review material and practice your output. Don’t try to learn new material at this stage.

Stay for the entire exam: Stay for the full length of the exam. Even if you feel you cannot recall any more, by relaxing or waiting in the exam hall, information and details might come to mind and enable you to score additional points. On exams, every point counts.

Read directions: Make sure you focus on reading the directions carefully. This is the most common avoidable mistake made by students. Don’t let it happen to you.

Read each question: Really read what you are being asked to do on each question. Don’t presume it’s the angle you’re familiar with. Reread to see what you’re actually being asked and remember that exams change all the time, so questions that appeared in the past may differ from those given in the present.

Focus on yourself: Don’t look around at how other students are doing. It may appear that you’re trying to cheat and it will just distract you from your main task which is to do as well as possible on your exams.

Budget your time: Check how much each question counts towards your final mark and spend time on each answer accordingly. If you have a choice to write your answers in any order, do the easy ones first to build up your confidence.

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NDU 1st Semester Examination date and study tips for students

Examination has started and every student is advised to cut out distractions and focus more on their studies as failure to plan is the best plan for failure.
Date :  MONDAY, JUNE 09 – FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2014

Get to the exam room with time to spare. Give yourself at least five or 10 minutes to gather your thoughts before starting the exam. That means being in the exam room five to 10 minutes before the exam starts.

Studying Efficiently

 

HOW TO STUDY EFFICIENTLY FOR EXAMINATION 

1. Find the right hours. Don't study when you're really tired. It's better to get a good night's sleep after studying for a short time, than to push on at two in the morning. You won't remember much and you're likely to see a performance drop the next day. 

 

2. Start as early as possible. Don't cram. Cramming the night before is proven to be ineffective, because you're taking in so much information at once that it's impossible to memorize it at all — in fact, you'll hardly retain anything. I know it's been preached to you many times before, but it's true: Studying before and going over it multiple times really is the best way to learn the material. This is especially true with things like history and theoretical subjects.

Always study when you have the chance. Don't let your mind tell you that you don't want to study.

 

 

3. Study for your learning style. If you're a visual learner, using pictures can help. Auditory learners should record themselves saying notes and recite it afterwards. If you are a physical person lecture to yourself (out loud) while also using your hands or moving around; this way it will be easier for you to memorize.

 

4. Different subjects call for different studying. If it's math you're studying for, work on the problems. Don't just read over it like you would for a history class, because you can actually do math, but you can seldom do history. Working problems out will help burn them into your mind, and remember: if you can't solve the problem before the exam, you won't be able to solve it on the exam either. For subjects based on calculations, it is important to do questions because this is essentially how you are going to be tested. 

 

5. Think of your teacher. Ask yourself: What is my teacher most likely to ask on the exam? What materials should I focus on to give myself the best chance of knowing what I need to know? What trick questions(Izonfou) or wrinkles(Papa) could my teacher introduce that might throw me for a loop? This may help you focus on the most important information, rather than getting stuck on things that might not matter as much.

 

6. Pay attention while you're learning to begin with. Make sure you actually pay attention in class. You wouldn't want to miss something that will be tested. Listen carefully, because teachers often give hints like "The most important thing about this topic is...". Or they may just place emphasis on certain words and issues. This is the real key to testing well. The more you absorb the information early on, the less studying you'll need to do.

 

  

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