So, the library’s starting to feel less like a study space and more like a second home you never really chose – dimly lit, vaguely tense, and always suspiciously devoid of plug sockets. Your calendar is creeping toward those looming dates, each one marked with ominous acronyms and a quiet sense of dread. Even your toast pops up for its beans-on-toast breakfast, lunch, and dinner with an air of resigned disappointment.

Welcome to exam season! A time when we’re all doing our best, even if that sometimes looks like staring at a wall for 20 minutes with a highlighter in hand. If you’re feeling behind, burned out, or like your brain has turned to emotional soup, you’re not alone. Really. Let’s say it plainly: exams are overwhelming. And stressful. And often unfair. But they don’t have to consume you.

So! Here is my (somewhat optimistic) advice, the kind that doesn’t involve 5am starts or aesthetic flashcards, on how to make it through the next few weeks with your brain, your heart, and your humour (mostly) intact.

1. You’re not lazy, you’re probably just tired

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: the guilt. You know the kind — that slow-simmering sense of failure when you’re not revising 12 hours a day, when your brain just won’t cooperate, or when you scroll Study Tok for 40 minutes instead of writing an essay plan.

“Watch three episodes of Derry Girls if it stops your brain short-circuiting”

But here’s the truth: rest isn’t laziness. It’s part of the process. You cannot pour from an empty kettle (or an empty coffee cup, for that matter). Taking real breaks – the kind where you’re not half-watching a lecture while doom-scrolling – is essential.

So yes, nap. Walk. Watch three episodes of Derry Girls if it stops your brain short-circuiting. Just don’t mistake your exhaustion for an inherent character flaw.

2. The library isn’t the battlefield

You don’t need to be the last one in the library to be doing “enough.” Despite what that one supo partner with the four-colour pen system and 27 folders would have you believe, academic suffering is not a competition.

Not everyone thrives under the fluorescent lights of the main reading room. And that’s okay. Some people need the soft hum of café chatter, the comforting clink of coffee cups, and the occasional distraction of a passing dog. Others work best curled up in their bedroom, surrounded by familiar clutter and an embarrassing number of mugs. The truth is, the “ideal” study environment isn’t one-size-fits-all. There’s no magic productivity zone with perfect feng shui and unlimited oat milk lattes. What matters most is how you feel in a space. Can you focus? Can you breathe? Does it feel like a place where you’re allowed to make mistakes and try again?

3. Make a plan, but make it kind

Be realistic with your revision plan. This is not the time to invent a new language of colour-coding or plot your schedule down to the nanosecond. Think: What must get done today? What would be nice to get done? And what can wait if you’re running on empty? Ticking off a tiny goal (even if it’s just “open Word doc”) is more useful than making a giant plan you’re never going to follow. The goal isn’t to do everything all at once perfectly (although that would be nice). The goal is to keep going.

4. Be your own friend

During exam time, you’ll notice it’s easy to be kind to your friends who are stressed, but treat yourself like a poorly-performing employee on the verge of getting fired.

“Your value does not fluctuate with your academic performance”

Would you yell at your friend for getting a question wrong? Would you make them skip lunch because they didn’t do enough by noon? No. You’d probably say, “You’re doing your best. Let’s take a break. Have a biscuit.” So do that for yourself.

5. Remember the world is still out there

It’s easy to get tunnel vision this time of year. Your deadlines start to feel like the end of civilisation, your room becomes your bunker, and the only daylight you see is the glow of your laptop screen.

So look up, once in a while. Call your grandparents. Go outside. Remind yourself that things exist beyond the exam hall and that you are still a person, not just a brain on legs. It might sound silly, but giving yourself small joys (flowers, Jack’s ice cream, a good cry!) keeps you grounded.

6. It’s not about perfection, it’s about making it through

At the end of the day, nobody will remember your exam grade in five years. Your degree matters, yes, but not more than your wellbeing. Your value does not fluctuate with your academic performance.

Maybe you smash it. Maybe you just scrape through. Either way, getting to the end is enough. You are not a failure if you’re not thriving right now. You are a person doing your best under pressure and that is enough.

Final thoughts (and a pep talk)

These next few weeks might feel long and lonely, but you’ll come out the other side. You’ll hand things in. You’ll make it to the final exams. You’ll emerge, blinking, into post-exam sunlight, weirdly unsure what to do with yourself now that your calendar isn’t screaming at you.

So take care of yourself. Be kind, to your mind and your body. And know this: you are doing better than you think.

Good luck – and whatever happens, I’m still proud of you.