Time management for exam preparation becomes crucial because students need to attend classes, socialize with friends, engage in sports, and prepare for tests. As students move to higher classes, studying becomes stressful. It coincides with the number of activities they have to do throughout the day and the increasing difficulty of higher education. Without a routine, it is hard to excel across subjects, each subdivided into multiple chapters that require both theoretical and practical learning.

Time management for exam preparation

Let us find out simple tips for exam preparation to make the most of our time:

1. Preparing all-year-round

Many students grow a pattern of ignoring studies for most of the year and begin 30 days before exams. Surprisingly, many get through to higher classes with this learning pattern, but stress themselves out in the process. They stay up late night after night, go through chapters topically rather than in depth, and disrupt their lifestyle for preparation.

Students who study year-round experience less stress and more ways to manage their time for exam preparation. Their grasp of subjects is strong, as they revise chapters as they are taught in school, saving time in the long run. They can study for the same three hours every day and outperform others (who don’t) without late-night studying. Such students perceive studying as interesting, a responsibility towards parents, or a duty towards themselves.

2. Create a doable schedule

A doable schedule will depend on two things: how much time you have left for your exams and how well you are prepared. Once you have answered both of these determinants, it will be easy for you to manage time for exam preparation. Create a schedule around:

• How many subjects do you have to study
• The subjects that need more attention
• The time of day you allocate for study
• What parts of the chapters do you need to study

The less time you have, the more hours you have to put in every day if you want to cover your entire syllabus.

3. Create a routine with same reps

A school routine helps you get ahead of time and utilizes it optimally, as you know when to do what. Following a schedule ensures you have time blocked for repetitive tasks every day. Mundane activities like sleeping, eating, studying, and attending school signal your body about things to do at specific periods. Breaks are tiny sprints of refreshment that you need to energize your mind and are a mandatory addition to routine life.

4. Set clear goals

Have realistic goals depending on how much time you have for exam preparation and the subjects you can easily grasp. Divide your syllabus into subjects and chapters, and allocate time for weekly revision.

Exams make students panic about topics they find hard to study. Instead of putting your entire energy into things you don’t understand well, it is crucial to strengthen those you do. When your foundation is strong across chapters that you find easy, you can extract maximum marks from related questions.

Difficult chapters need additional time as you need to think, practice, and test more. Adding an extra hour for tougher chapters to give dedicated attention becomes crucial, especially before exams.

5. Use productivity tools

Productive tools help you track and monitor tasks you complete to accomplish your study goals. Tools like weekly planners, alarms set for daily goals, and highlighters that mark important subject matter are all essential.

You can also use digital tools to elevate your study experience. For example, you can use scheduling apps like Trello and Asana to allocate time for difficult subjects. Notion and Evernote can help you organize tasks throughout your day and take notes.

6. Minimize distractions

Digital distractions are the biggest evils of the 21st century, preventing us from accomplishing tasks to the best of our abilities. If your study time is constantly diverted due to social media notifications or the temptation to play video games every 20 minutes, you can never concentrate on your studies. Don’t use your phone while you are studying to maintain complete attentiveness, minimizing study time while facilitating solid learning.

7. Minimize socialization

Before exams, you are also likely to contact your friends more often to check how well they are prepared. Your intent could be to exchange knowledge, notes, and study material, but unconstructive conversations can waste your time.

If you want to grow with friends to get better grades, organize group studies, quizzes, and interactive games for revision. If you cannot create access to such activities, there is nothing productive to retrieve from casual conversations before exam time.

8. Time-block for maximum focus

The thought of studying for hours often overwhelms students. The fear of prolonged exposure to books leads to procrastination.

Instead of setting four to five hours of study time every day, target only two. But give yourself a condition that this period will have no distractions, external disturbances, and a task to accomplish.

The process pushes you to create a goal and set a deadline. It increases your chances of finishing your task before time and takes on more work as the process feels achievable.

9. Prioritize tasks, people, and activities

If you have too much to study and too little time, you need to prioritize. The hardest subjects are the ones to deal with first, as they tire you the most. But if you feel simple tasks are easy to tick off first so that you can keep a larger portion of your time for harder tasks, that can work too.

If you cannot fit everything into the timetable for your exam prep, postpone what can wait. These could be activities involving other people or things to do that are not associated with studies. Once your exams are over, you can prioritize such tasks and complete them one by one.

10. Learn to say no

You cannot manage time for exam preparations if you don’t say no. Our social lives constantly drag us towards activities either through temptations or compulsions. Creating boundaries when you’re trying to maintain a routine is necessary to avoid drifting away from your daily non-negotiables. When you tie yourself to repetitive tasks every day, consistency and hard work beat gifted minds. Unfortunately, rigid schedules often make us say no.

Prioritizing well-being to maximize potential

Our body and mind have invisible batteries that deplete throughout the day. Let’s assume 50% of your energy goes away while you’re at school. The remaining 50% is spent while you’re at home.

Now, imagine the energy you are left with after engagements like interacting, eating, and playing is 30%. That is all you have when you study during evenings – at a time when your brain is fatigued by 70%.

Good nutrition, adequate sleep, and regular exercise are essential for optimal brain function in children. It also reflects how well they can manage their time to accomplish daily goals year-round, not just before exams.