WHY IT’S GOOD TO HAVE DOWNTIME DURING REVISION AND EXAMS
Watching Netflix during exams season
This article goes out to those of us who watch Netflix during exams season and feel guilty. But also to those of us who want to watch Netflix but feel too pressured to get the work done. It’s important that you continue to do your favourite activities during exam season. Find out why below.
BURNOUT
ACADEMIC SUCCESS
The go hard or go home mentality might seem like a good approach to ensure academic success but, instead, it’s a sure way to sabotage both academic achievement and wellbeing. Revising or working all day every day with little to no breaks is a recipe for disaster.
IT’S NOT A SPRINT – IT’S A MARATHON
You’ll tire yourself out very quickly, become stressed and reduce your overall performance. When it comes to revision, you have to remember that you’re in it for the long game so, it’s not a sprint – it’s a marathon
EDUCATION IS NOT A PUNISHMENT
INTEGRATE YOUR EDUCATION INTO YOUR LIFESTYLE
If you cut out everything you love so that you can revise and do work then you’ll come to associate education with punishment. You’ll wish that you could ‘just be done with it’ so that you get back to doing your favourite activities. Integrate your education into your lifestyle.
FIND A WORK-LIFE BALANCE
HOW TO DO LIFE
School isn’t just about preparing you for the working world – it’s also about learning how to do life. Whilst work and exams are important and you’ll have to do both throughout your life – so is living life. Pausing your life for four years or just living in the summer is a bad habit to get into when you’re in such a formative stage of your life. Learn how to incorporate the things you enjoy doing in your daily life and see how you can find a work life balance between the things you need to do and the ones you enjoy doing.
REWARD YOURSELF
SELF REWARDS
Improve your working efficiency and enjoyment but giving yourself rewards for tasks you complete. Revised a chapter for English? Go for a kick about with your friends. Learnt a topic in biology? Watch an episode of your favourite show. These positive reinforcements will also mean that you come to associate learning with enjoyment – allowing you to keep going longer by wanting to do it.
Note:
ensure that the frequency of rewards and the reward-work ratio are balanced. Don’t reward yourself every 10 minutes or give yourself massive rewards for little work.
PERFORM BETTER
INCREASE PERFORMANCE AND RETENTION
Taking a break after some time learning a topic and going back to it after a while has been proven to increase performance and retention. By going to a task after a break you can go in with a fresh perspective and evaluate what you learn earlier and what knowledge is still missing.
