We all know that university life is more complex than we imagine, especially when exam time comes around. Young people get to have a high level of college stress knowing that they are approaching the time when they have to test all their knowledge.
Here we will give you some tips so you can learn how to deal with stress.
Tips on how to deal with college stress
When students reach exam time in college, they usually start to panic. The truth is that at this stage of any student’s life, there is usually a lot of stress, and for them, it is almost impossible not to be able to feel it. In the end, the challenge is to have to control them. They must have the capacity to choose if it will dominate them or if they will manage to control this great stress in which they are submerged.
If they do not manage to control this great stress in which they are immersed, the truth is that this can affect them negatively. If you want to improve this, you can follow a series of guidelines and tips that will help you get out of this situation alive.
We all know that we are talking about a task that is considered to be very complex, but the truth is that we have to try to see stress as something positive. The truth is that if we get to compare a person who is just overwhelmed by stress with one that gives them steps to focus and find a better result, it gives us steps to how all this can affect them. The good thing is that it is important to stop and reflect on all the options presented to them to choose the path that will lead them to the final result.
The study techniques can end up being very useful to be able to move away all those feelings that are negative and in this way to be able to start focusing on the study; in this way, they will get a better performance in the time they want to invest in the notes and books. Here we are going to give you some advice so that you do not get overwhelmed when the time of the exams in the university comes:
Don’t get overwhelmed, positivity before everything
The truth is that this is what we consider to be the main thing; without this, you will be completely lost. You must be clear that it is important to have to study and work hard, but this has to be something that, deep down, they are born to understand that there are certain sacrifices that they have to fulfill in order to have very good results in their grades.
We know that we are not talking about a task that is considered easy, but the truth is that if they let themselves be carried away by negative thoughts, it will be very difficult for them to get out of it.
According to Jelly McGonigal, a psychologist and speaker at Stanford University, it is more important for students to accept stress than to try to make it disappear completely. In this way, what it allows is that they can face in a better way some situations that become like a challenge that they have to overcome.
If they continue with the stress, this will give them great energy and the tenacity they consider necessary to progress, and this will bring them a better formation. When a person is constant in what they do and work, wanting in this way to really be able to excel, the nerves will always be there. The challenge of all this is that you have to learn to control them; they cannot dominate you.
No to distractions
We are talking that you have to say goodbye to social networks; you must say goodbye to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and any other application that, for you, is a great distraction. Although we know that it is mission impossible that today there is a person who is not in the world of social networks, the important thing is that you are focused and that your studies are always your priority.
A good way to achieve this is through the technique called ABC (Awareness, Breathing, Choosing Mindfully). Believe it or not, we have the possibility to train our brains to perform well in a task without losing concentration. This technique offers certain tools that will allow you to achieve this.
The letter A of Awareness means knowledge or awareness. What this does is that the student stops doing whatever they need to do in order to recognize the distraction that at the moment is taking them away from their study. The B of breathing is what is known as breath control, and this allows the person to reflect on the different options available to them.
Finally, what we have is the C; what this gives way to is that the student is aware when having to decide what to do in front of the distraction, if what he has to do is to learn to deal with it or if he wants to discard it completely.
If we want to have good results, we have to be completely responsible when it comes to organizing our time so that we can spend it in a way that is effective. We all know that it can be very complicated to isolate ourselves to sit down to study because everything that was not considered important before is now important. Always keeping goals in mind can end up helping the student so they can focus on the task and stay on task.
Take regular breaks
We know that we are talking about a time that is considered to be very stressful, and that is why you try to perform to the maximum, but it is important to know how to organize very well the hours of study so you do not have to fall into overwhelmed. In this way is that you also have to completely avoid all distractions, as well as it is essential to know when you have to stop and take the respective break, or else you will end up saturating yourself.
There are many students who spend the days before the exam locked up with books and notes without doing any other activity that makes them relax. In the same way, moderate exercise can also stimulate memory, and in this way, you will also be able to relax during this time that generates so much stress. That is why we recommend taking a few short breaks that will allow you to disconnect for a while so that you can resume studying when you have better energy.
Specialists from wowessays advise that students can develop a schedule with breaks to allow the mind to stay productive and alert all the time. That is why it is important to be able to organize all the study material and the hours that have to be invested.
With this schedule, what is recommended is to place blocks of one hour with 10 minutes of rest and to be able to review all the material in some other way; this can be reading aloud, it can also be doing some small summaries of the subject, or writing some questions. All of this can help you understand everything you have studied up to that point.
When you do this, your brain will work, and you will be able to learn in a more dynamic way, using different techniques that will help you to retain the information in a simpler way.
If you know that it is a little difficult for you to concentrate, you already know that the phone has to be disconnected in those hours that you are dedicating to your studies and you only have to turn it on in those periods of breaks that you must comply fully. Having a fixed schedule to access social networks will be more effective than you think because it will indicate that the study hours are finally over.
Choose a suitable place to study
What is not at all advisable is that you stay lying on the couch when you have to dedicate yourself to your study, because the truth is that the concentration will not yield as it should be and usually this brings many distractions that every time you’re going to move further and further away from the study.
What is recommended is to study in an environment where you can concentrate, a place that is very quiet has good lighting, and does not have any type of distraction. It is also a very good idea that you can review all the material before you start studying (notes, highlighters, pens, etc.) in order to avoid getting up from the table every time you remember that you need something, this will waste your time, and you will lose your concentration.
Use your own notes
For many people, this may seem unnecessary, but the truth is that it can be your greatest ally. When you take notes in class is when you learn to listen, think, and write because you are attentive to the explanations given by the teacher to be able to write what you consider the most important. We know that the notes of a classmate can be a great help, but there is a possibility that you do not understand the explanations that your friend wrote because each person has a different way of writing.
The important thing is that you can summarize what you consider to be the most important, but it must be in your own words so that you can understand it in an easy way and also remember it without any setbacks. The purpose of this is that you can summarize as much as possible all the content, but you cannot leave out any information that is considered key so that when you sit down to study, you already have more or less an idea of what it is about.
At the University of Exeter in England, what they say is that taking notes will help you to remember everything you have studied so far and that this also works for you to be able to review in a different way all the concepts you have learned over time. The truth is that it is important that we are very critical when it comes to having to stay with what we consider essential.
If you can do all this in the correct way, the hours of study will be reduced, and the students will have a good base from the first moment; you will lose all the concepts in fast way. In the same way, you have to thank the notes that are going to be a very useful summary that will work for them to be able to do the work and will help them to review when the time comes for the midterm.
Study planning
It is surprising how many students generally ignore how beneficial it can be to have a personalized study schedule. We are talking about planning that is in line with the schedule of exams, and the study will allow you to improve productivity. It can also improve motivation levels when you know what you have to face daily.