Exam season is a slalom of stressful events and last minute revision, but the most important point of proper scheduling is aiming at the narrow gaps of relaxation. Trying to stay in turbo mode for an entire month isn’t actually possible. You’ll burn out. Months of work can be cancelled out by one exhausted mistake. It’s vital to take breaks between the big bursts of mental effort we call “exams”. It’s even more vital you don’t drink during these breaks.
A drink is tempting! You’ve just emerged from a few hours of intense intellectual work, maybe you don’t have a test tomorrow, you’re hanging out with friends, and a few pints feel like they’d be brilliant relaxation. And for those few hours they would be. But those pints affect your body for a lot longer. You’ll certainly sleep easier but that’s because your body is repairing the effects of alcohol, instead of recovering from the exams. To say nothing of the risks of hangover. Seriously, don’t say anything if there’s a risk someone has a hangover, it hurts their head. What hurts even worse is losing an entire whole day of full mental function at the very worst possible time because you misjudged your chemistry.
Even a slight mental impairment can cancel out weeks of work. All your study is like building and maintaining the best possible race car. The preparation is incredibly important, and helps a lot, but you still have to get in and drive it on the day of the exam. Feeling fresher can make massive differences to your final mark. It can be the difference between reading a question right or wasting ten minutes on a trick you didn’t spot. There’s no point wasting weeks of work understanding a chapter if you’re too tired to apply it on the day.
You want to be at your absolute peak on the day of the test. Waiting a week or two to drink can make all the difference to your mark. You’ve got every other option for relaxing between tests. You don’t need to be studying all the time. In fact, you really shouldn’t be studying ALL the time. You don’t want to burn your brain out on these subjects when you need to be able to think about them most. But video games, movies, TV (just an episode or two, not a whole season!), running, swimming, all these can shift your brain to a totally different gear and leave you better rested, ready to get back into the examination action. Instead of miserably wishing you were back in bed.
You don’t want to repeat a year because of a hangover.
A drink is tempting! You’ve just emerged from a few hours of intense intellectual work, maybe you don’t have a test tomorrow, you’re hanging out with friends, and a few pints feel like they’d be brilliant relaxation. And for those few hours they would be. But those pints affect your body for a lot longer. You’ll certainly sleep easier but that’s because your body is repairing the effects of alcohol, instead of recovering from the exams. To say nothing of the risks of hangover. Seriously, don’t say anything if there’s a risk someone has a hangover, it hurts their head. What hurts even worse is losing an entire whole day of full mental function at the very worst possible time because you misjudged your chemistry.
Even a slight mental impairment can cancel out weeks of work. All your study is like building and maintaining the best possible race car. The preparation is incredibly important, and helps a lot, but you still have to get in and drive it on the day of the exam. Feeling fresher can make massive differences to your final mark. It can be the difference between reading a question right or wasting ten minutes on a trick you didn’t spot. There’s no point wasting weeks of work understanding a chapter if you’re too tired to apply it on the day.
You want to be at your absolute peak on the day of the test. Waiting a week or two to drink can make all the difference to your mark. You’ve got every other option for relaxing between tests. You don’t need to be studying all the time. In fact, you really shouldn’t be studying ALL the time. You don’t want to burn your brain out on these subjects when you need to be able to think about them most. But video games, movies, TV (just an episode or two, not a whole season!), running, swimming, all these can shift your brain to a totally different gear and leave you better rested, ready to get back into the examination action. Instead of miserably wishing you were back in bed.
