Work by “homeopathic dose”
Devoting an entire day to a single subject is a bad method: you risk forgetting everything on D-Day. It is best to alternate your revisions, dedicating one hour to one subject, and one hour to another. Before Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, it is better to learn properly. This is where you are most effective in rereading your lessons or writing your files. Conversely, the day after the holidays, after heavy meals and short nights, it is better to focus on concrete and applied exercises.
1. Know how to isolate yourself… but not too much
In family, the risk is to be solicited regularly… and therefore not to be able to concentrate. However, you have to know how to forget others and be forgotten by your loved ones. If the discussions drag on at dinner, do not hesitate to withdraw from the table. But revising doesn’t always have to be done alone. The student can explain a concept to a member of his family and thus verify what he has learned and understood. The best thing is to revise between students, since they often have more expertise than their elders in their field of study.
2. For the New Year, follow your friends
Organizing your New Year’s party takes a lot of time and energy. Instead, let yourself be invited by friends who have more time and fewer constraints. The advantage this year is that the holidays fall on a weekend. Similarly, in most establishments, the resumption of classes does not take place on Monday 2 but on Tuesday 3 January. This gives students time to recuperate.
3. Externalize and spend
TV, computer, video games, sport, music… The holidays are an opportunity to indulge in your hobbies and passions. You should not deprive yourself of them, because they allow you to externalize stress and get back on your feet. But be careful not to abuse it or stay in “cocooning” mode. To be most effective, focus on intellectual effort in the morning and leisure in the afternoon. When staying in the mountains, it is better to avoid skiing all day. Revisions should preferably take place as soon as you wake up, then in the evening after having exerted yourself physically.
4. The secret to success in partials: regularity
End of year celebrations or not, the best way to pass your exams is regular learning. It is not the 15 days of vacation that will be decisive, but the work carried out little by little since the start of the school year. Students in their first year of license may be disconcerted by the system of partials, they who until then were accustomed to continuous assessment.