Exercising Self-Care During School or University Exams

For GCSE and A level Students

Create a Revision schedule: 

Organise your study sessions into manageable chunks, and make sure you build in dedicated time for relaxation and rest between them. Aim for a balance between subjects and perhaps allocate more rest time following the subjects or tasks that you find the most challenging.

Remember that finding the time to take a break or even remembering to do so can be hard; if you put them into your schedule, you will be reminded to take guilt-free breaks of a sufficient length to keep you mind at peak efficiency! Check out our guide on creating an effective study space at home for more tips on efficient and healthy self-study. 

Practice Mindfulness:

Incorporate mindfulness techniques into your daily routine to reduce stress and improve focus. Take short breaks to practise deep breathing, meditation, or progressive muscle relaxation.

Online mindfulness sessions or podcasts can be helpful if you’ve never done something like this before; for example, the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation has a series of both paid and free resources to help students develop mindfulness techniques to help deal with periods of stress.

Stay Active:

Regular exercise is a powerful stress reliever and mood booster. Incorporate physical activity into your revision breaks, whether it's going for a walk, doing yoga, or playing your favourite sport.

If you can find the time to play sports or move your body with friends or family, even better, since this takes us onto our next piece of advice…

Connect with Others:

Maintain social connections with friends and family to combat feelings of isolation and stress. This can be in the form of socialising during study breaks (although this does require self control to make sure you don’t spend too much time ‘on break’ with your friends) or you can study alongside friends.

Working together can be a good tool to test one another or mark each other’s work, or can just provide some comfort in sitting next to a fellow classmate in silence.

Get Enough Sleep:

Prioritise sleep to support cognitive function and memory consolidation. Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night, and establish a relaxing bedtime routine to signal to your body that it's time to wind down. Fitting in extra study time by getting up early and going to bed late is all very well, but what’s the point if you’re too tired to remember anything?

Nourish Your Body:

Fuel your brain with nutritious foods that support concentration and energy levels wherever possible. Stay hydrated throughout the day, and opt for brain-boosting snacks like nuts, fruits, and whole grains, alongside the odd treat to help incentivise and make your study time a little tastier!

Practice Self-Compassion:

Advice for all seasons: be kind to yourself, especially during challenging moments. Celebrate your achievements, no matter how small, and recognise that setbacks are a natural part of the learning process. Of course you should learn from mistakes, but punishing oneself rarely improves your output and often just leads to a poor outlook!