Getting Through Your Exams: HSC Tips
With the HSC Examinations just around the corner, we are wishing all of the year 12 students out there the best of luck! Here are our 5 tips to get you through your exams:
1. Practice Mindfulness
Going into your exams with a clear mind will give you the best access to all the information you have learned. Have you tried Smiling Mind app? They have a range of guided meditations that can really help to clear the mind. If you are not into meditation, go somewhere quiet for a few minutes the morning of your exam, and focus on your breathing for 10 long, slow breaths.
2. Keep exercising
It can be so easy to replace exercise with last minute study. If you are already active, try to maintain your normal exercise routine throughout your exams. If you are not already active, get moving! Even just a short walk can help. It is well documented that physical activity has both short and long term benefits and some studies have even shown immediate effects on concentration.
3. Do handwriting warm ups before writing
Getting your fingers and hands ready before writing can make a big difference to a person’s endurance and legibility. Try some of the handwriting warm ups on our resources page!
4. Sleep
Like exercise, it can be easy to replace sleep with last minute study. Sleep deprivation can result in difficulty concentration, remembering information and increased stress. Read more about some new studies in sleep deprivation here. Instead, try to maintain your normal sleep routine during exam period.
5. Do Power Poses!
Have you seen Amy Cuddy’s research about power poses and faking it until you make it? She calls it the “postural feedback effect”. There have been at least 9 published studies, including Amy Cuddy’s work that have shown that adopting expansive postures can cause people to feel more powerful. She recommends doing ‘power poses’ before stressful life moments, such as interviews, exams. Read more here and watch her Ted Talk here.
Good luck!!
References:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/phy-activity
Inside the debate about power posing: a Q & A with Amy Cuddy