My Exam Study Routine

This year at University is the first year I have properly revised for my exams. I study Physics and I am on my second year of a MSc. I have never had the motivation to revise before this, and have never really known how to. It is one of those things which you are always assumed to know how to do but never taught – at least in my experience.

It was a weird mental click to go from never having worked before to consistently doing 8 hours of revision a day, but this sudden switch worked for better for me then the gradually onboarding (I may have talked to soon). For a very long time I have been searching for that video or tip that’ll make me productive. It turns out that you actually just have to start. Weird but also logical I guess.

In this post I aim to cover my revision routine and any tips I have for revising.

Burnout

Update 22/05/2021: It is likely that when revising you will struggle with burn out. I can now admit, after roughly 20 days of consistent revision, I am struggling with drive. I think everyone struggles to keep going hence I’m admitting this here before my main part of my post. My 8 hours a day routine has plummeted into a more ‘modest’ 4/5 hours for the past few days. I aim to get back into 8 hours a day soon, but there is no point pushing yourself so far that you collapse into a heap and can’t do any work. You have to be kind to yourself, and if you feel burnt out, it is important to not ignore it. Take a serious look at what you can do to make your revision more enjoyable, and your breaks more relaxing.

I will note that after these 20 days, I did not resume the 8 hours a day but did continue to revise at a lesser level. I think that the experience of this revision was good for me and I proved to myself that I can.

Routine

I wake up at 5.30am-6.00am. I know this is very early but it means I can start the day early and finish by about 4.00pm allowing me to relax.

Generally I work from 7.00am though I am aim to start earlier if I manage to get moving quicker in the morning – so probably not. I then work until 1.00pm on my main focused work, with breaks roughly every hour or two (about 5-10minutes) to get a hot drink of coffee or tea – keep those brain juices flowing. I then have a break from 1.00pm-2.00pm for lunch and a bit of time to relax and unwind – though I don’t allow myself to relax too much at this point.

At 2.00pm I then start working again until about 4.00pm at which point I wrap up my day. After I wrap up my day, I generally go do some exercise – which for me is a run – though some days I have to take off since my legs end up hurting too much. It definitely makes me feel much better when I get some time out of the house; to stretch my limbs that are probably suffering moderate oxygen starvation due to awful posture [I sometimes sit on my legs when working].

Stay Hydrated (and caffeinated)!

When studying for long periods of time it is extremely important to make sure you are staying hydrated. Even mild dehydration is likely to impact your performance and focus [1]. I have a 2 litre metal bottle which I fill up each morning and put by my desk. This lasts me the whole day. It also makes sure that I keep hydrated even when I don’t want to move.

On top of water, every few sessions of work I will grab myself a drink with caffeine to keep my focus up. I generally will have English breakfast tea or coffee, but sometimes green tea. Green tea is actually much better for focus as the L’theanine when combined with the caffeine can cause noticeable improvements [2] over baseline scores. It also has benefits over a longer period of time.

If using caffeine to stay focused, make sure that you have stopped drinking it near your bedtime since it can have negative effects on sleep.

Food?

I guess food is an integral part of the day. What on earth should we be eating?

One of the things that has stuck in my brain from going to school is that breakfast is the ‘most important meal’, so I stick to this. I make sure that I am eating a good sized breakfast to get me through the morning and feed my poor brain. For this I generally prepare some overnight oats the night before so I can wake up and get it out of the fridge with very little effort (just how I like it). For lunch I go for something quick and easy, which for me is generally a few slices of toast and a banana. For tea (dinner if that’s what you call it – why though??) I have time to cook something from scratch, but generally go for pasta or a dish with rice.

My Equipment

What do I revise using? Below I will list the different things I use to revise, obviously not all of these are cheap or affordable, but some of these have lasted a long time. I have only linked to the things which I believe are still available. The others are years old so there are probably better versions.

• HP Laptop
• Benq Monitor – so I don’t have to look at my small laptop screen when I’m at my desk.
• Keyboard and Mouse – I like not having to use my laptop sometimes, and this means I can put my laptop somewhere not on the desk.
• USB hub – to connect all my USB devices to my laptop in one go, and to power the USB devices.
• Drawing Tablet – allows me to hand write notes and do questions on my computer. I have a Wacom tablet, but there are cheaper options. The advantage of the Wacom tablet is that it is good for digital art too.
• Soundcore Life Q30 – good noise cancelling wireless earphones below £100 – sometimes decent deals from Anker so keep an eye on the website.
• Paper, pen and a pencil – sometimes it is just easier to work by hand.
• Coffee, tea, green tea and a large water bottle – this allows me to stay hydrated and stay caffeinated.

Software?

Having the right software on your computer is an important part of optimizing your revising experience. I have a small selection of programs which I find extremely useful.

Microsoft OneNote

My choice of platform for all of my notes to be stored. I have all my lectures written up on here and also can do problems sheets. The great thing about this is that you can use a drawing tablet to handwrite them if you want. You can also move notes into sections and subsections which really helps with organization.

Notion

My choice of organization software. In here I put all my key dates and other important things. The software is very flexible and it allows you to be very creative in what you create. You can also use it for notes if you please though not being able to handwrite them is a downside for me.

Spotify

I know music isn’t important to everyone but having music on in the background helps me stay focused for long periods of time and with my noise cancelling headphones it can help drown out distracting noises – like a very annoying dog that was consistently barking :(.

References

[1] Zhang J, Zhang N, Du S, et al. The Effects of Hydration Status on Cognitive Performances among Young Adults in Hebei, China: A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(7):1477. Published 2018 Jul 12. doi:10.3390/ijerph15071477

[2] Haskell CF, Kennedy DO, Milne AL, Wesnes KA, Scholey AB. The effects of L-theanine, caffeine and their combination on cognition and mood. Biol Psychol. 2008 Feb;77(2):113-22. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.09.008. Epub 2007 Sep 26. PMID: 18006208.