After years and years of planning to start studying well before the exams and failing to do so, cramming at the last hour, and sometimes miraculously scraping through, we’ve all developed our own ‘fundas’ of preparing for examinations. While we all have unique ways of studying that work for us, there are a few ways that usually don’t. Here is a list you should try not to follow if you want to ace this semester:

1.Decide to get organized

This might seem like a good idea, but tidying up your cupboard/ room/ local river in the week before your exams isn’t likely to unclutter your mind, and arranging all your books and notes in neat stacks won’t boost your grades. If you haven’t been organized all through the semester, trying to do it now will only distract you, tire you and waste precious time.

Best case scenario: You now live in more habitable surroundings.

Worst case scenario: You discover an old photo album (let the reminiscing commence).

 

 

2.Multi task

You may think that playing Flappy bird and upholding a conversation at the same time makes you a master multi-tasker, but rarely does this skill convert well in terms of actual studying. To be able to really grasp what you’re reading, you need all your concentration and more, especially when there’s only a little time left to cover a lot of syllabus. For some students, studying two subjects alternatively without a sufficient gap works wonderfully, but for most of us, this just muddles things up entirely. Stick to one subject at a time and make sure you don’t move on to something entirely different till you’ve given your mind enough time to soak in what you’ve just studied.

3.Pull regular all nighters

Sure this works for all people on some nights and for some people on many nights, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that completely disrupting your sleep cycle will lead to any major leap in your scores. If you aren’t typically a creature of the night, then turning nocturnal right before exams is a very bad idea. Staying up all night to study generally leads to increased consumption of caffeine and decreased concentration. Your ability to memorize and recall what you’ve just learnt falls and your mind tires more quickly.

4.Try to study online

 Because no one really knows how those online notes usually turn into Facebook. And after chatting or aimlessly hitting the news feed button you end up wasting not less than 3-4 hours from your rigorous schedule of last minute studies. So better beware of falling into this trap and stick to the old school method of reading from your books.