Five essentials for surviving deadlines and exams
Maisy Saxon
Music BMus(Hons)
Hi, I'm Maisy and I study Music at Huddersfield. This time of year can be stressful with deadlines and projects to complete, or exam revision. So here are my top five essentials for coping with a big workload.
Deadline and exams season can be one of the most stressful times of the year.
With essays, exams, projects and the feared dissertation all due within the span of a week or so.
It can feel overwhelming and impossible. Currently I’m in my third deadline season, and I have discovered five essentials that can help deal with the stress when you have so much work to do – whether studying at uni, for A Levels or anything else.
Quick meals
When I first came to university, cooking was something drilled into me. Making sure to cook good, healthy meals and not just survive on air fryer and microwave meals.
One issue with cooking is that it takes time and, in most cases, leaves lots of pots to wash, which takes up even more time - something we have little of during the deadline season.
It's okay to allow yourself not to cook every night. Having a quick pizza or microwave meal some nights is fine.
Some places, such as ASDA, have microwave meals for just £1. These can save you hours of precious time at this time of year.
If you're still looking for meals that are quick but healthier than an air fryer or a microwave meal, a slow cooker can be perfect. Being able to have a hot curry or tasty pasta meal ready when I get home from the library is a godsend.
All I have to do when I get back is boil some rice or pasta and my tea is ready, it's bliss.
Slow cookers also let you have a home cooked meal with fewer pots to wash up than if you were to cook these meals from fresh, saving more time on that front also.
When you do have some spare time, yes fully cook meals. But when busy, allow yourself to rely on quick, easy meals.
True breaks
When working, it can be hard to step away. Whether it is to go get a coffee or to eat lunch, it can be hard to pull yourself away from work. However, it is so important to.
Making sure you have a break for lunch at the minimum is truly important. Food and drink fuel your body and brain so you can do excellent work and not become tired and sluggish as the day goes on.
When there is so much work to do, it's hard not to eat lunch while you work but it is extremely necessary. True breaks help your body and mind relax throughout the day; reducing fatigue and improving productiveness.
At a minimum, a lunch break is necessary. Personally, I find having short breaks that become more frequent throughout the day helps me keep up productivity.
At the start of the day, I am awake and ready to work. As the day goes on, tiredness comes in and the idea of getting in bed sounds like heaven.
As the day progresses, I find taking short, more frequent breaks gives me short periods of rest and helps me keep my willingness to work high.
As hard as it can be, you must remember to be kind to yourself.
Maisy, music student -
Go outside
During the deadline season, it’s easy to get into a pattern of not leaving your flat or only leaving your flat to go to the library and back.
From personal experience, this can make me feel bogged down and that nothing else is happening in my life other than work and sleep. It's important to break this pattern.
At a minimum of once a week, I make sure to go outside whether for a short 20-minute walk or going to meet a friend for lunch.
Making sure to do something at least once a week that is away from your flat or the library can help remind oneself that you have a life away from work and improve productivity.
Write down your tasks
This might sound extremely simple but can be one of the most helpful things to do at this time of year.
With so many assignments to complete and tasks to do, having an extremely long to-do list in your head can become overwhelming and make your brain feel like it's full of noise, resulting in work being harder to complete.
Getting that list out of your head and writing down your specific goals helps quiet the brain and helps you focus on your assignments.
Personally, I find writing down my goals for the week is the most helpful as it helps lift the pressure of having to do certain tasks on a specific day and then getting frustrated when I can’t focus on that task on that day.
For example, instead of planning on doing five hours of writing on a chosen day and being annoyed if my brain can't focus and write that day, I plan on doing a minimum of 15 hours over the whole week.
This results in me feeling less pressure on myself as I know what I need to achieve, deciding day to day what to do rather than planning beforehand and being frustrated if I can't. Usually, this also results in me doing more than what I was planning that week.
Be kind to yourself
During this time it's easy to become frustrated and be hateful to yourself whether it be over work or being so focused on work that you neglect other parts of your life whether that be socially, or the state of your room or the many other aspects that can be neglected when work has to be the absolute top priority.
As hard as it can be, you must remember to be kind to yourself. You're doing the best you can and that's all anyone else or yourself can ask for.
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