Written by Joshua
27 May 2025
I’m currently in the throes of a tedious exam season right now, but I’m far less stressed than I used to be about times like this. Yes, the Swedish education system does complement my learning very well, but there are some other study tips, and maybe even life tips, that have helped me even more. Today, I’m going to share some of those with you, hopefully before I have to finish studying for my exam tomorrow 😩. Let’s go, because the clock is ticking 😩!
Figure out what you NEED to know
My classmates often side-eye me when I ask “Ok, I get it, but is that something I need to know 🤔?” We learn a lot of important information in our labs, lectures and seminars, in any university, in any place. A lot of that information is pertinent to our development, but honestly, we don’t have to be able to reference all of it off hand in any situation. While studying, you need to be able to identify the key points that a lecturer is trying to bring across with their material. A good way to figure that out is:
- Looking back at the course outline and intended learning outcomes.
- Trying to explain to yourself what the material is saying.
- Answering questions asked during a lecture, or practise questions listed in lecture slides.
Practicing these tips – along with one I’m going to talk about in a bit – can change the game when it comes to studying, saving you time, hair and possibly a lot of anxiety 😅.
Lean into your strengths
Sometimes we stress about courses or assignments that we genuinely don’t have much interest in. Recently, in a seminar conducted by a renowned psychologist, I learnt that one of the biggest keys to success, academically or personally, is about learning to lean into your strengths. Let’s be honest, you’re not going to love every single course that forms part of your degree. If you do, I love that for you, but I think I can confidently say that the majority of us don’t 😅. As much as we should do our best in all our courses, the reality is that ‘our best’ in some courses, just won’t be as good as ‘our best’ in others, and that’s not a problem 😀.
Always consider what your next best option is
This one is actually very simple, but very effective. Last week, somebody asked me 15 minutes before an assignment was due “Do you think I should submit this model?” My answer was, “What options do you have?” I’m sure you can imagine, but I only got silence in response 😂. Sometimes we spend a lot of time considering an option that genuinely isn’t viable, not realizing that it’s not even an option in the first place 🤷🏾♀️. You’d be surprised how asking yourself a simple question like “What options do I have?” saves you so much energy.
Find out what’s already been done
This goes back to the first point about figuring out what you need to know. A lot of the time, the work of figuring out the important parts of a course has already been done for you 😲. How, you may ask. PAST EXAMS. Say it with me, PAST EXAMS 😂. A past exam is the perfect place to find out what the key learning outcomes of a course are, simply because their whole purpose is to figure out if you’ve taken what you need from the course. Take my foolish advice, don’t reinvent the wheel, check out the past exam – along with supporting information from the course – when you’re studying. Don’t waste your time trying to memorize every single equation, formula and concept. Thank me later 😜!
Work with your classmates, not against them
This is one of the most important tips here. The biggest skill you’ll develop in university is learning to work with other people. In fact, if you don’t learn that skill, I’m not even sure that you’ll complete your program, especially here in Sweden 🙁. I find that most of the information, resources and opportunities are shared in informal situations. The conversations after a lecture (maybe even during), the comments that are shared over lunch or the meetup plans that are made in the virtual group chats are in a lot of instances the keys to your success. It may not always be convenient or comfortable to make yourself available, but I can guarantee you that working with your classmates will pay for itself a hundred times over 😊.
Use the resources that are available to you
I saved the best for last. This tip REVOLUTIONIZED the way I studied. There’s been a lot of talk about how AI will shape our future. For me, AI’s been shaping the future of my education 😅. When I started this year, I didn’t fully take advantage of all its capabilities, because honestly I just didn’t know how much it could help. Everything changed when I had to code for some of my courses. Working with AI to write codes has been the biggest help for me, and when I started using it to explain code to me, my usage of the technology just increased more and more. Now I use AI to help me understand concept in all my courses, and I honestly couldn’t be happier for having the resource.
I hope this blog post helps you this exam season. These tips have definitely changed a lot for me, not just in my educational life, but in my personal one too 😉. Anyways, I wish you the best on your exams, and I hope you’re wishing me luck too 😭.
