How to stay feeling calm and not stressed at uni

University can be very stressful, especially when you have deadlines due.  However, if you feel stressed then here are a few tips which might help you to feel a bit more human again.  

Assignments

1) Starting assignments at the last minute will make you stress a lot more.  So instead of leaving it until the last minute and procrastinating before hand, get on with the work when you first get it.  Handing it in early, however, is not always a good idea., as sometimes lecturers will give you some last minute information in the few days before the assignment is due in.  So, if you finish the work early then you will be able to go out and enjoy yourself but will also have time to put in all the last minute information you get.  This will leave you less stressed but also means you can enjoy yourself when you've finished the assignment to the best of your ability.

2) Leading on from the first point: Use the lecturers' office hours to ask them questions about the assignment.  The earlier you finish the work the more time you'll have to ask them any questions you may have.  

3) When you're doing work or revising it is vital that you take regular breaks.  During these breaks there are many things you could do to de-stress. 

• Taking a bath can reduce your stress levels hugely.  Instead of revising or doing work for hours and hours and hours, take a break and run a nice bubble bath, put on some relaxing music and maybe even light a few candles (but only if you're allowed in your flat/house under your tenancy agreement).  If you don't have a bath then have a shower and just let the water run over you and feel all your stress flow out of your body and down the drain.  You can now go back to your work and feel more prepared for it.
• Exercise is another way that can reduce stress.  Just going out for a walk or a run can improve your concentration levels as well make you feel more prepared to do work without feeling stressed.  Also, it will keep you fit and healthy.
• Making sure you get enough sleep will also improve concentration and work levels.  Sleeping enough during the night is something that can be quite alien to students.  I have found that going to sleep in the early hours of the morning makes me feel sluggish and in an "I can't be bothered" sort of mentality.  I try and go to bed early so I can feel refreshed to work hard the next day.
• However, going to bed early won't always happen, because going out with friends is an important factor for relaxing.  If you have deadlines due, and you have procrastinated up until the last minute, the last thing you want to do is procrastinate more by going out and getting so drunk that the day the assignment is due in you still have to start it, whilst wrestling with a huge hangover. Make sure this doesn't happen because you will regret it and you may get a really bad mark which won't help you get your degree, which, let's face it, is the reason you've gone to uni: To get your degree.

Revision

When it comes to revision, you should know by now the way in which revising is best for you.  If you don't then you're first year is the year to find out.

• Make up a study group and revise with others that are on the same course as you, that are at uni and want to get a 1st at the end of it. This will encourage you to actually revise because it's with a group of people who actually want to learn and do well.  Also it means you can set up questions for each other to make sure you have revised and it's actually sunk in.
• If studying in groups doesn't work for you then you could read the whole book a couple of times (which I have known people to do and for them it seemed to work).  If you make notes on it then it is better because you have it in your own words and it should sink in more for you.  
• Using the lecture slides helps, but make sure you have notes on it too and you've read the core text book because I've had exams that have asked for information on the books as well as the lecture slides and the lectures don't go into huge detail about topics whereas the book does.
• If you're more of a visual person then create flow charts and spider diagrams and the like so you can see the information. I found this works best for me because I am more visual, I can see the most important information to use which I actually read as I was walking past it.
• If you live with people on your course then use them to help you with revision. You're all in the same boat and it will do them good to help too.  If everyone sticks post-it notes around with short pieces of information on then you can each learn off each other, because someone else may think of something you forgot, or if you missed lectures and they went then you get information.  But it also shows you areas that you're weakest on.  You could write questions on one side of the post-it and answers on the back.  Or you could do a quiz evening for your friends with questions from the course incorporated in.  It's a cheap way to have fun and to learn too.
• The most important thing I've learned from being at uni 2 years is to revise all throughout the year rather than doing it all last minute.  Revising little and often throughout the year reduces stress because it puts it into your long term memory which means that in the exam you will know it and you won't be stressed at the exam thinking you don't know it because you prepared yourself all year for this exam and all the revision has been worth it.

If you guys have any ideas for ways to reduce stress and improve your marks at uni, then let me know.  Or if there's anything you want me to talk about in my next post then write me a comment or email me at sandra.spencelayh.92@gmail.com