Hopefully you've spotted Nicola and Jenni's helpful tips for surviving the summer term in the most recent Grassroots newsletter.

If you're still in the middle of exams and essay deadlines, read on for the full versions of their articles (we had to squeeze them a little to fit them into Grassroots). If you are all finished (well done!) then hang on to these helpful tips for next year.

There have also been some great resources from others - Manna, the SCM-affiliated group in Cambridge, have produced a guide to staying sane during exam term (which can be downloaded here) and chaplain Maggi Dawn gives some advice on her blog here.

Tips for dealing with exam/essay stress

by Nicola Beaumont (Bristol Chaplaincy Assistant)

Yep, it’s that time of year again when all of a sudden it hits you that you have BIG and IMPORTANT things to do. Now, you have two options: you can either run away and hide in a cave hoping that it will all go away. Or you can follow this advice (dispensed by someone who has no authority to give it except for once being a student who survived finals…)

1. Prioritize: No one enjoys taking stock of what has to be done because you suddenly realize what has to be done. But, it has to be done. (If you’ve still got three months until your exams begin then well done, you smug so-and-so, now move along, no one likes a swot.) If, like most of us, you have maybe left things a tiny bit late then its time to grit your teeth and make a list of the things that need doing and when it needs doing by. DO NOT PANIC.

2. Plan: Once you’ve got your list of priorities then its time to make a plan. Don’t be an idiot about it. You’re short on time so there is no need for you to make your own paper, write on it in fairy dust and then embellish it with gold-plated hearts. Biro on scrap paper will do. Remember to include important things: tea, sleep and breathing (in that order).

3. Keep in touch: now is NOT the time to stop talking to friends, family and significant others. Give them a ring, grab a revision break coffee with them, go to the gym with them. They will keep your feet on the ground and remind you that there is more to life than these exams.

4. Don’t be an idiot: whilst keeping in touch is important, playing Farmville for four hours or going to a rave the night before an exam will not help. Obviously.

5. Just do your best: I KNOW it’s what your mum always said, but I reckon she’s a pretty wise lady. If you’ve done your best then what will be will be.

6. Remember: ‘This too shall pass’. Honest. It will. You’re going to be just fine.

Everything is better with tea

by Jenni Summerscales (SCM member and recent graduate)

1. Stop working! Take time off for meals, prayer, fun, and sleep! No, really. You have to do this. You could take it in turns with your friends to cook at home, or in your chaplaincy. That way you get good food without daily cooking, and (hopefully) some fun and fellowship.

2. Start early, plan well. Revision, essays, and research projects: all are easier if you start thinking, reading and planning early. Then you can avoid doing so much of the dreaded living and breathing only revision/writing close to the deadline.

3. Make use of the available support. Keep in contact with your supervisor or tutor who can advise you on what to read, and how to structure essays and exam answers. Good tutors know when something is wrong! "You seem to have gone into radio silence mode, you're either snowed under a mountain of stuff or you're sitting on a mountain of panic resembling 'Touching the Void' but without the happy bits. Do tell.” My dissertation supervisor - Steve Kettell

4. Make a timetable…but cheat. Allot an extra 20-30 minutes to each task than you think it will take, okay, not for “brush my teeth,” but for bigger things. You will avoid trying to stuff an impossible amount of things into your day, you are more likely to complete everything you plan, and you either have additional free time, or can get ahead of schedule!

5. Break down tasks. Make tasks small enough that you can tick something off every few hours. Tasks are less daunting if they are “Draft introduction,” or “Reference literature review,” rather than “FINISH DISSERTATION.”

6. Drink tea.*

*Some have suggested that alternative drinks are available and constitute acceptable life-choices. Whilst the jury deliberates on the legitimacy of this claim, remember, everything is better with tea.