How to Inject More Fun into Your Studies: Reprogramming Your Brain to Love Learning

love learning

Have you noticed that children love learning?

They throw themselves into playing with blocks, singing songs, drawing with crayons, and creating art.

But as we get older, many of us lose our love of learning.

Learning at high school and university can become all about …

• Copying things from the whiteboard, PowerPoint slides or your textbooks
• Reading your notes over and over again
• Re-writing your notes
• Staying up late to study for tests and exams
• Highlighting huge slabs of text

Here’s the thing …

When you feel forced to study something you don’t care about it can kill your love for learning. Studying takes on a torturous quality.

And when this happens, it’s easy to forget that you love to learn.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

With a little creativity and a few simple tools, you can have a lot more fun with your studies.

Enter Fun Theory

fun theory
Fun theory is this idea that if you want to engage in a particular behaviour (e.g. study) then you need to make the behaviour fun and novel for your brain.

Here are some ways you can apply fun theory to the learning process:

1. Geography

learning about the world

For starters, let’s not call it geography. Let’s reframe it to learning about the world (i.e. your home).

Next step: get your hands on the largest world map you can find. Choose the map with the brightest colours (your brain loves bright colours). Now stick it to your wall.

world-map
My big world map in my home office. Nice piece of artwork, eh?

Every time you meet someone new from another country, make it a fun game to find where he or she live on the map. Want to get a really good sense of where they live? Jump on Google maps and look at the street view.

Other strategies to try:

• Get a sense of how people live in this part of the world by visiting Dollar Street (this brings it to life)
• Jump online and find an online paper created in that part of the world. For example, learning about India? Check out The Times of India. This will give you a sense of the issues the local people are dealing with.

2. Writing essays for English

Write or die
Need to bash out a 1,000 word essay in a short period of time? Then try using the Write or Die app.

The Write or Die app is a writing tool that helps you get words down fast. Here’s how it works: you set goals for how many words and the length of your writing session. Then you select either reward or consequence.

If you select reward, every time you hit a writing milestone a picture of a cute puppy will flash on the screen. Consequence mode will punish you with a red flashing screen and sirens if you’re writing too slowly. If you don’t pick up the pace, the computer will start eating up your words!

Other ways to make writing essays fun for your brain:

• Use different coloured pens and paper
• Select a crazy font on your computer
• Storyboard your essay: create a plan of your essay in picture form
• Dress up in a crazy costume or wear some ridiculous over-the-top item as you write (e.g. a feather boa or a crown).
• Give yourself a sticker every time you hit a writing milestone

crazy japanese stickers
An example of some fun stickers. These stickers are ‘Ojisan’ (Japanese middle-aged men) doing exercise.

3. Learning a foreign language

learning a language

Reading language textbooks can feel like a hard slog. To lighten things up for your brain, you could try:

• Using the Duolingo app
• Use a verb wheel (it feels a bit like being on the show Wheel of Fortune)
• Get out children’s language books from the library
• Go to a restaurant where the staff speak the language and practice your language skills on them
• Create a kids book in the foreign language
• Watch videos and movies in the language

verb wheel

4. Practicing lines for a play or speech

learning lines

The thought of having to memorise lines for a performance or speech can be overwhelming for your brain. Try doing the following:

• Use the Line Learner app
• Practice your lines in different accents
• Dress up and get fully into character
• Say your lines in an overly dramatic way
• Stand in front of the mirror and practice with yourself
• Drop your lines randomly into conversation with your friends
• Practice with your friends
• Sing your lines

5. Studying for tests and exams

exam party

The key here is to trick your brain into thinking it’s not studying for a test or exam. The best way to do this is to create a party atmosphere.

Here’s what I suggest:

1. Invite your friends over to study for a particular subject or topic.
2. Prepare a couple of platters of healthy snacks (e.g. fresh fruit and veggies sticks and dip), get some ingredients to make smoothies, put some background music on (nothing too distracting) and decorate the place with post-it notes, coloured pens and lined paper.
3. When your friends arrive, spend the first 10 minutes catching up (set a timer for this).
4. After socialising, set a timer for 25 minutes. Remove all phones from the space. It’s time to hit your books and/or flashcards.
5. When the timer goes off, everyone gets up and moves for 5 minutes (e.g. do a dance, go for a walk or do some karate kicks).
6. Rinse and repeat steps 4 and 5 until you feel like you need a longer break.

Not keen on throwing a study party? Fair enough. Try these ideas instead:

ducksters.com
• Jump on Ducksters for simple and straightforward explanations
• Explore ideas in children’s books or any book that makes the topic seem fun for your brain (tip: pictures, illustrations and bright colours help).
• Get a whiteboard and some coloured pens and draw out everything you can remember about the topic. Do this for 5 minutes or until you exhaust your memory. Make sure you then check for gaps in your knowledge and things you incorrectly recalled.
• Venture outside into nature with your textbook, notes and/or flashcards.

To sum up

Studying doesn’t have to feel like a chore. With a few tricks, you can fool your brain into thinking fun times are ahead! And the thing is when you’re having fun and you’re feeling good, you will learn more. It’s a win-win situation!

The key is to experiment and see what works for you. Keep things new and fresh because your brain loves anything that is new and novel.

Have any other ideas on how to make studying fun and novel for your brain? Feel free to post them below!

Share This:

Facebook
X
LinkedIn

Related Posts

Different ways you can do active recall

What is the best way to cement information into your brain?

Research shows active recall (aka retrieval practice) is a highly effective strategy for remembering information. This strategy will take your studies and your grades to the next level.

Active recall involves bringing information to mind without looking at your books and notes.

I have spent the last 30 days experimenting with this excellent learning strategy. In this blog, I’ll share what I did and how I kept the process interesting for my brain.

But first a little background . . .

I no longer need to study for tests and exams.

So, why did I spend 30 days using active recall strategies?

In my line of work, I need to constantly come up with new and original content to present to students. I also need to memorise this content. Why?

Because if I was to read from a sheet of notes or text heavy slides that would be really boring for students. I want to connect with students and to do this, I have to be able to deliver the content off the top of my head with speed and ease.

This is where active recall enters the picture.

Active recall helps to speed up the learning process. It allows you to learn more in less time.

Below I share some of the ways I use active recall to learn new presentation content. Keep in mind, you can use all of these strategies to prepare for an upcoming test or exam.

1. Work with a whiteboard

Whiteboards are wonderful learning tools. Here’s how I use a whiteboard to do active recall . . .

I push my speech notes to the side, so I can’t look at them. Then I grab a marker and say to myself, “What can you remember? Go!”.

I write out everything I can remember on the whiteboard. Once I’ve exhausted my memory, I pick up my notes and check to see how I went (using a red marker to make corrections).

Learning with a whiteboard

2. Write it out

No whiteboard? No problem!

I pick up a pen and sheet of paper and start scribbling out whatever I can remember on the topic. When I get stuck, I pause and take a few deep breaths as I try to scan my brain for the information.

I regularly remind myself that it is okay to not remember the content. “This is how the process goes!”, I say to myself. There is no point beating myself up. That only leads to feelings of misery and not wanting to do active recall practice.

After having a shot at it, I take out my notes, pick up a red pen, and begin the process of checking to see how I went.

3. Draw it out

Sick of writing? I get it.

Try drawing out the information instead. Alternatively, you can use a combination of words and pictures, which is what I often do.

active-recall-draw-it-out

4. Mind map it out

Grab a blank piece of paper (A3 size is best) and create a mind map of everything you can remember on a topic (no peeking at your notes). Then check your notes or the original mind map to see what you remembered correctly and incorrectly.

5. Say it out loud

Writing and drawing out information can take time. If you want to speed up the process, you can talk to yourself.

But don’t do this in your head. It’s too easy to just say “Yeah, yeah, I know this stuff!”. You need to speak it out loud as this forces you to have a complete thought. Then, check your notes to see how you went.

The only downside with this approach is you don’t have a tangible record of what you recalled, which brings me to the next strategy . . .

6. Make a video

I make videos of myself presenting the content (without referring to my notes). Although I use special software and tools to make my videos, you don’t need any fancy equipment. Your phone will do the job. Here’s what you can do . . .

Set your phone up so the camera is facing you. Now hit the record button and tell the camera what you’re going to do active recall on. Have a shot at explaining the idea. Then stop recording and hit the play button.

Watching yourself struggle to remember information is often hard viewing. But this is where it’s super important to double down on telling yourself kind thoughts (e.g., “I’m still learning this content. It’s going to be rusty and feel clunky – that’s okay!”).

You need to take a deep breath and keep watching because the video will give you valuable feedback.

For example, if you stop midsentence and you don’t know how to proceed, that tells you something: you don’t know this stuff so well! Make a note. This part of the content needs your attention.

7. Chat with a friend

Hand your notes over to a friend, parent, or sibling. Now get them to ask you questions on the content.

I sat with my mum and showed her a print out of my slides for a new presentation. The slides were just pictures (no text).

As I went through the slides, I explained the ideas to mum. I made notes of any sections I was rusty on. Mum also asked lots of questions, which allowed me to think more deeply about the content.

8. Print out your slides and use them as prompts

When it came crunch time (a few days before the final presentation), I printed out my presentation slides (16 per page) and used each slide as a prompt. I’d look at the slide and say, “What do I need to say here?”.

Sometimes I wrote out what I’d be saying in relation to each slide (without looking at my notes). Then I checked my original notes to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything.

It’s really important that you don’t skip the stage of checking to see how you went, especially as you become more confident with the content.

At times, I found myself thinking “I know this stuff! I don’t need to check my notes” but then another part would say, “You better just check . . . just to be on the safe side”.

I’m glad I forced myself to check because more often than not I would discover that I had missed a crucial point.

9. Make a zine booklet

Zines are cute little booklets you can create on any topic you like. They are fun to make, so I thought I’d try making a mini zine on the main points of some new content I had to learn.

I folded up an A4 page into a booklet and then I sketched out the main points on each panel.

10. Test yourself with flashcards

I create a deck of flashcards on some key ideas (question on one side and the answer on the back) and then I test myself with them.

I read the question and before flipping the card, I write out the answer on a sheet of paper or say it out loud. Then I check to see how I went.

The beauty of flashcards is they are small and portable (they can easily fit in your pocket or bag). Whenever you have a spare minute or two, you can get a little active recall practice in.

Active recall + Spaced practice = Supercharged learning

It’s not enough to do active recall just once on the content you need to learn. For best results, you want to practice recalling the information several times over a period of time.

I didn’t follow a strict schedule for the 30 days. I had my notes for each important chunk of information I had to learn pinned to eight different clipboards.

Every morning, I’d pick up a different clipboard and I’d practice that specific content. I knew as long as I’d had a good night’s sleep in between practice sessions that the information was being strengthened in my brain.

Get comfortable with the discomfort of doing active recall

Doing active recall is a bit like doing a high intensity workout: it can be exhausting. But you must remember, just like a high intensity exercise session is an effective way to train and get fit, active recall is an effective way to learn. Unlike less effective strategies (e.g., rereading and highlighting), you can learn a lot in a short space of time with active recall.

The key is to expect the process to be a little uncomfortable. Don’t fight the discomfort. If you trust the process and persevere, it won’t be long before you begin to see amazing results.

Ways to make active recall fun for the brain

Just because active recall is challenging to do that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it.

Using a combination of different active recall strategies is one way to keep things fresh and interesting for your brain. But you may wish to try the following things to add a little boost of fun to your active recall sessions:

• Use a different type of pen
• Use a different coloured pen
• Change the type of paper or notebook you use (e.g., instead of using lined paper, use blank A3 paper)
• Incorporate movement into your active recall sessions (e.g., walk and test yourself with some flashcards)
• Change your study environment (e.g., go to the library or study outside)

Find a spot in your routine

Like I said, active recall is challenging to do, especially when you first start learning new content. You can feel awkward and clumsy. For this reason, it’s easy to make excuses to get out of doing it (e.g., “I’m too tired”, “I’m not ready to do it”, and “It’s not the right time”).

This is where you need to harness the power of habits.

Find a set time in your day to do a little active recall practice. For instance, during my 30 days of active recall, I scheduled my practice sessions for first thing in the morning. I knew after I washed my face, I would sit down to practice.

Incorporating active recall into my morning routine worked really well for me. I was getting the hardest thing done first thing in the day. And once it was done, I could relax. It was done and dusted!

At a certain point, I became more confident with the content and I found I was on a roll. I felt motivated to do active recall.

This is when I started to look for spare moments in the day to squeeze in a few extra mini practice sessions.

For example, one day I found myself waiting in a car. I grabbed a paper shopping bag and started scribbling out the content onto the bag. As soon as I got home, I checked the shopping bag against my notes.

To sum up

I hope you can see that there’s no one set way to do active recall. This is a highly effective strategy you can be creative with. As long as you’re testing yourself and checking to see how you went, you can’t go wrong.

And if you do make a mistake? It’s no big deal. If you check to see how you went, you won’t embed the error in your long-term memory.

Why is the notification button on your phone red?

This is no accident. This is a deliberate design decision.

It’s the same reason why fast food logos are often warm reds, yellows, and orange tones. These colours jump out at us. They create a sense of excitement and urgency.

In his book Drunk Tank Pink, Dr Adam Alter argues colour is a hidden force in our lives that can shape the way we think, feel, and behave.

In this blog, I’m going to explore how you can use colour as a tool to help you study more effectively and keep your brain focused and engaged on the task at hand.

Understanding colour psychology

There is whole field of research dedicated to exploring the impact of different colours.

One fascinating study looked at the impact of a particular tone of pink (Baker-Miller Pink/Drunk Tank Pink) that appeared to sap people of their energy. Researcher Dr Alexander Schauss found staring at this shade of pink could lower people’s heart rate and pulse compared to staring at other colours.

A 7-month trial was conducted in which prison confinement cells were painted in this pink shade. According to Dr Schauss, when people were exposed for just 15 minutes to this pink colour in their prison cell, it made them more relaxed, less aggressive, and reduced the incidence of violent behaviour.

But before you race off to the hardware store to buy a tin of pink paint, you need to understand a few simple things about the psychology of colour.

The research suggests that colour can act as a powerful trigger. It can cue different emotions, thoughts, and behaviours. For instance, when you see a red Stop Sign or light, this captures your attention.

But how we react to colour also comes down to personal preference and particular contexts. Colour can have different meanings in different contexts (e.g., on Valentine’s Day red generally symbolises romance rather than “Danger! Look out!”).

The bottom line is this: when it comes to colour you need to experiment to see what works for you.

Using colour to help you learn and do your work

Colour can evoke particular states (e.g., a state of calm or alertness). It can also perk up your brain and transform a dry, boring subject into something that’s a little bit more novel and interesting for your brain.

Below I share 9 ways you can use colour to study and work more effectively.

1. Create lists and reminders with sticky notes

There’s something about a brightly coloured post-it note that captures our attention. This is why I love using post-it notes to help focus my mind and stay on track.

On a post-it note, I create a list of no more than three things that I need to do. Once I’ve completed those tasks, I scrunch up the post-it and throw it in the bin. This action feels surprisingly satisfying! I’ll then grab a fresh post-it note (often in a different colour) to create a new list.

If I’m not sure how to get started with a task (e.g., Task: Write blog post on colour), I’ll grab another post-it note and I’ll scribble down the first tiny action I can take to kick-start the process (e.g., Tiny action: Open Word document).

2. Colour code your subjects

If you have trouble finding your study materials for each subject and they all look the same or are scattered all over the house, you can use colour to make it easier for you to find what you need.

Try assigning a particular colour to a subject. This makes it easier to stay organised and identify your materials. At home, I assign a light blue to my exercise files and folders. When it’s time to plan my workout for the day, I look for my light blue files and folders.

A simple and cheap way to colour code your materials without investing in brand new stationery is to gather a collection of paint swatches from your local hardware store. You can repurpose these as labels by cutting them into smaller sections and sticking them on your files, notebooks, etc.

3. Use colourful flashcards

Testing yourself with flashcards is a highly effective way to study for a test and/or exam. You can create your own flashcard decks by purchasing index cards in a range of different colours.

Try assigning certain colours to different subjects. Alternatively, you can simply pick a colour you want to work with depending on how you feel.

There are no hard and fast rules. Feel free to mix up your flashcard colours to keep things fresh for your brain.

4. Create mind maps

Creating a mind map on a topic is a simple way to combat study fatigue and inject a little colour and creativity into your study sessions.

Although using different coloured pens isn’t absolutely essential for mind mapping, it’s well worth doing. I use different colours to create the different branches on my mind maps.

I have dozens of colourful mind maps at home. Despite my lack of drawing skills, these mind maps look great and are fun to review primarily due to the different coloured branches.

5. Decorate your study space

It’s important that you feel good in your study environment. If you feel good in your study space, you’re more likely to sit down and study there.

I’ve decorated my workspace by putting up colourful posters, inspiring and funny pictures, and artwork on my walls.

If you don’t have access to artwork/posters, you can print out colourful pictures and quotes of things that make you feel good. The addition of a few indoor plants can also help to liven up your space as well as purify the air.

6. Strike a highlighter (but use these pens with caution!)

Fluorescent highlighters feel really good to use. It can feel both fun and satisfying to strike things off your to-do list. You can also use these pens to time block different tasks/events in your diary and draw your attention to important tasks that you need to do.

Word of warning: When it comes to studying for a test or exam, I don’t recommend highlighting your books and/or notes as a way to learn. I know it feels good but research shows it’s an ineffective way to learn.

7. Use a red pen when editing your own work

Red pen is often associated with failure and criticism. This is why seeing a teacher’s comments scribbled in red pen can trigger negative emotions in many of us.

Generally, we don’t like reading comments written by others in red pen. It feels nasty! But it turns out if you use a red pen to correct your own work, this can help you to pick up more errors.

Dr Adam Alter discusses one study that looked at the difference between using a blue pen and a red pen to correct an essay. Students who used a blue pen picked up on average 19 errors. In contrast, students using a red pen picked up an average of 24 errors.

But using a red pen has its limitations! If you are trying to solve a problem or taking a test, using a red pen can backfire by activating ‘avoidance motivation’. This is a distracting state of mind that can impair a student’s ability to solve problems and increase stress levels.

As a rule of thumb, use a blue or black pen when solving problems and taking tests. But when you need to cast a more critical eye on your work (e.g., in the proofreading phase), switch to using a red pen.

8. Dial down colour in certain areas

A lot of us use our phones as an easy way to escape from the boredom and discomfort we experience when doing our work. The apps on our phones are like candy. They are designed to be highly addictive and hijack our attention.

This is where you can be strategic with how you use colour: you can make your phone look more like a tool (and less like a toy) by turning on greyscale mode.

Viewing your phone in greyscale is a completely different experience to using it in full-colour mode. As a year 8 student recently shared with me:

“When I made my phone greyscale, it made it really boring to use.”

Try it and see for yourself!

9. Reward yourself with stickers and fun stamps

This strategy may seem juvenile. If it reminds you of being back in primary school and receiving gold stars, hear me out.

Too often we don’t stop to acknowledge and appreciate ourselves for accomplishing tasks. We finish one thing and we immediately shift our focus to the next task on our to-do list.

When you work this way, your work routine can quickly become soul destroying and your motivation can take a dive.

This is why every so often I pull out my fun stamps and colourful sheets of stickers. After completing a task, I pause and acknowledge what I’ve done by giving myself a stamp or a fun sticker. It’s a little celebration.

For some reason, my brain responds particularly well to quirky Japanese stickers featuring ogisan (Japanese grandfathers) exercising. We’re all different, so explore what stamps and stickers work for you.

To sum up

Colours are lot of fun! Incorporating a little more colour into your studies and work life can take things to the next level and perk up your brain when it needs a little motivational boost.

But the colours that I like may not be the colours that you like. Your colour preferences may also vary from day to day. Notice the colours that make you feel good and have fun seeing how you can incorporate them into your study sessions.

Exams are an intense experience.

This means you need to prepare yourself mentally and physically for them.

You can work so hard to memorise large quantities of information for an exam, but if you’re not mentally and physically prepared, all that hard work can sadly go to waste.

When it comes time to take your exams, you have to relate to yourself as a professional athlete. Leading up to the day of the big performance (i.e. the exam), you need to eat nutritious food, be in the right frame of mind, manage your nerves, and allow your body to rest. These simple things can make all the difference to your exam performance.

You may be thinking “But isn’t this just common sense?”

It is! But creating healthy habits takes time and practice.

It’s one thing to intellectually know you should be eating well but it’s another thing altogether to incorporate healthy meals and snacks into your lifestyle.

I see a lot of students drinking energy drinks, getting very little sleep, and eating highly processed foods in the days leading up to exams. I have to admit, there was a time when I engaged in these behaviours too. I can tell you from personal experience, this is a recipe for mediocre grades and a miserable existence.

Here are my top 10 tips to prevent burnout and boost exam performance:

1. Prioritise sleep

Sleep is critical to the learning process, exam performance, and wellbeing. Yet it’s usually the first thing students sacrifice to get more study done.

If you miss two hours of sleep each night for a week, the cognitive effects are as bad as going without sleep for two days straight!

Studies have also found that if you stay awake for 18 hours straight that’s like having a blood alcohol level of 0.05. In other words, it’s like being legally drunk. Your ability to focus, think, and learn will be seriously impaired.

You can’t adapt to getting less sleep. As adolescents, you need about 9-10 hours of sleep per night to be as alert as possible when you wake up.

If that feels unachievable, try to just get an extra 15 minutes of sleep tonight. Gradually increase this each night until you reach your target.

2. Incorporate movement breaks into your study sessions

Often students stop exercising when they start preparing for exams. They think “I don’t have time to exercise!”. It’s as if they think they must spend every moment studying. Don’t fall into this trap.

Movement is your friend when it comes to studying for exams.

Research shows engaging in regular physical movement will help you to study more effectively. Firstly, it’s a great way to relieve stress and release feel good chemicals. Secondly, it gets the blood flowing more efficiently to your brain, which can give you a cognitive boost.

One study found students who engaged in 5 minute movement breaks every 17 minutes during a lecture retained more information and could focus better.

Every time you engage in a short movement break, you’re enhancing your study sessions.

3. Eat a healthy breakfast

Research has found that students who skip breakfast experience a decrease in cognitive performance and alertness compared to students who eat breakfast.

Eating a nutritious breakfast will give you a cognitive boost before an exam. It will also help you to feel fuller for longer, stabilise your mood, and give you plenty of energy to get through the exam.

Here are some healthy breakfast ideas:

  • Muesli or porridge with nuts and fresh fruit (e.g., berries)
  • Wholemeal toast with a variety of toppings (e.g., baked beans, tomatoes, and avocado) and a piece of fruit
  • A healthy homemade smoothie (click here for my brain boosting smoothie recipe)
  • Breakfast smoothie recipe

    4. Drink plenty of water

    Your brain requires adequate hydration to function properly. Drinking water ensures that your brain receives the necessary fluids to perform tasks efficiently, such as retaining information and problem-solving.

    Take regular sips of water as you study. It’s a good idea to have a glass of water or a reusable drink bottle within arms reach.

    You may even want to create a tiny habit to remind yourself to engage in this simple behaviour (e.g., “After I finish answering a practice exam question, I will take a sip of water”).

    5. Remember, your teachers want you to do well

    Many years ago, I started thinking that my teachers and lecturers were out to get me. I thought they would mark me down wherever they got the chance. As a result of this distorted thinking, I became too scared to write anything in one of my first tests at law school. After receiving a terrible grade (5%), my brother said to me:

    “Remember sis, your teachers want you to do well. They will try to give you marks wherever they can. It’s in their best interest to do so.”

    Don’t worry about writing a perfect answer. If you’re unsure, be brave and still write something down. Even if it’s just a few dot points, it’s better than nothing. You may not get any marks for it, but your teachers won’t take marks off.

    Just remember, most of the time your teachers are on your side and they want you to succeed. When you do well, it makes them look good.

    6. Focus on what you know

    Chances are there will always be something that you could have studied more thoroughly come the day of your exam. But on the morning of an exam, you can’t do much about that, so there’s no point worrying. Worrying will just deplete your finite energy, which you need to conserve for the exam.

    Instead of worrying, try saying this to yourself before each exam:

    “I now know so much more than I did before. I’ll be able to answer many questions in this exam.”

    Telling yourself this positive micro-thought will allow you to enter the exam in a calm and confident frame of mind.

    7. Avoid things and people that trigger anxiety

    It’s normal to feel a bit nervous before an exam. But there are certain things and people that can push your anxiety levels into dangerous territory and impair your exam performance.

    For example, coffee and energy drinks will skyrocket your stress levels. Similarly, hanging out with people who have a lot of nervous energy and are venting about the exam (“I’m going to fail!” and “I hardly studied!”) are going to leave you feeling distracted and a little jangled.

    Before the exam, do your best to isolate yourself from these people. If you’re worried about offending someone who is venting to you, you could say “I’m sorry but I really need to do some last minute cramming”. Then proceed to pull out your notes and pretend to read them.

    8. Mentally disconnect from the exam when it’s over

    How many times have you stayed back after an exam to talk to your friends about what you put for each question? Have you ever felt terrible after doing this?

    It can be reassuring to know that you wrote the same answer as your friends. But if you find out that you wrote something completely different, you may start to second guess yourself. If you have another four or five exams to go, this may throw you off your game.

    This is why I don’t recommend engaging in a postmortem of the exam until you get your results/exam paper back.

    When you walk out of the exam room, tell yourself:

    “That exam is over. There’s nothing I can do to change how I went. It’s time to move on!”.

    You could imagine yourself locking the exam in a box and throwing it off a cliff or rolling it up and stuffing it in a bottle and throwing it out to sea. The point is you need to mentally disconnect from that exam and focus on studying for the next one.

    9. Engage in the Box Breathing Technique when you get stuck

    If you come across a question that you’re not sure how to answer, stop for a moment and take a few deep breaths (in for the count of 4 and out for the count of 4).

    A simple breath activity you can try is the Box Breathing Technique. This involves imagining yourself breathing along the sides of a box (breathing in for the count of four on one side, out for the count of four on the next side, etc). Repeat this 2-3 times. Then take a look at the question again.

    If you are still unsure how to answer the question, move on to another question.

    The worst thing you can do is panic (remember, stress impairs your ability to think and recall information).

    By engaging in Box Breathing, you can help yourself to remain in a calm and stable state.

    10. Dealing with writer’s cramp

    Many of us are familiar with writer’s cramp. This can be caused by gripping onto your pen too tightly. Try loosening your grip a little.

    Alternatively, experiment with a range of different pens. Some biros require you to press down hard on the page to make a mark, but not gel pens. The ink just flows onto the page!

    The reality is, even with a good gel pen, your elbow will start to hurt at some point if you’re taking a 3 hour exam. When it does start to hurt, have a rest for a few seconds (yes, you have time to do this). Stretch your arm out. Shake it a little.

    Treat each exam like a mountain hike rather than a 100 metre sprint. Resting for a few moments here and there will be time well spent and will enhance your overall performance.

    To sum up

    These simple strategies can help to elevate your exam performance. My advice is to start small. Even if your exams are several weeks away, select one or two of these ideas and start testing them out today. At first, the strategies will require a bit of mental effort. But like anything in life, if you persevere they’ll become second nature to you and they’ll just be things you do without even thinking.

    Want to learn more exam strategies? Click here to download a free copy of 70 ways to ace your exams.