Exam Journals: Day 6 (Things I do the Day Before Exams)

By Kat

Tomorrow begins the formal commencement of our exams. What fun! 

On the contrary to what it should be, however, today was a pretty chill day. Why? I find that stress is really the last thing that I should be accumulating right now, contrary to all my previous exam preparation periods.

I believe that is an appropriate enough segue...so...

Here are The Things I do the Day Before Exams:

1. Waking up

"It's a beautiful day, and I can't stop myself from smiling..."

Not really. Usually it starts with a small freakout in my head. Today it started with me shooting out of bed to get ready for Chinese school, so not much time for a freakout there. But generally, I begin to crowd my head with thoughts, mainly revolving around this:

"Wake uppppp...you haven't done enough revisionnnnnn...you're not readyyyyyy...get prepareddddddd...you need to do more revisionnnnnn..."

It's horrible.

2. Revision

My revision goes on for way longer than it probably needs to. Why? Two reasons. Firstly, I psych myself out about not doing enough revision, like what happened today:

"You only wrote one essay yesterday. Write another one."

One hour later...

"Two essays aren't enough! Write another one."

Secondly, the other thing that happened today was my dear friend procrastination. Because, just as much as I have a strict work ethic voice in my brain, I also have the chilled and "I don't care" voice.
"You've already written an essay today...take a break...go outside...watch some Youtube...chat with someone..."

One hour later...

Should I get back to my revision?

"What about after you get yourself an ice cream?"

And so the cycle continues. It's quite painful, really, because I can't seem to find the balance between work ethic and relaxing. My one central flaw in exam revising...it's funny though, because sometimes you find yourself in those circumstances in which you study little and excel. As well as those in which you study a lot and do poorly. I deem exams a strange and elusive thing.

3. Sleeping

I haven't decided what time to sleep. Should I sleep early to conserve my energy, or late to cram more?

Exams are infuriating. But their existence is a topic for another time. In the meantime...it's probably sleep time...

Good luck again to all takers of exams, especially those experiencing some sort of university entrance exam. May the odds be ever in your favour.