Exams are coming up in January and this can be a worrying and demanding time for many students. But there’s no need to panic; getting your preparation right and using the right tools and resources will make your life easier.

We like this exam hints and tips article from the Independent. It’s talking about Easter exams, but that doesn’t matter, the ideas will work well in January too! There’s lots of great tips here about organising and looking after yourself in the run up to the exam period.

It might also be useful to you to know what tools and resources are available to help you with your exam preparation:

You might find that the Library Gateway useful. This online resource brings together all the different search tools you might need to find your way round the physical and electronic collections in the SHU library and you can find it at: http://library.shu.ac.uk

You can also access subject guides which introduce students to the books, journal articles and news items relevant to their subject area. You’ll find this at: http://library.shu.ac.uk/subjectguides.html

Another service offered through the learning centres are the drop-in study support sessions. If you’ve got a question about an assignment you’re working on or you want to have a draft of an assignment looked at, these weekly one-to-one sessions with a study support tutor are designed for just that. Look on shuspace here for more details. Throughout the next semester you may also be interested in attending an academic skills workshop as these cover a variety of study-related topics.

As a student at SHU you are also automatically enrolled on the new Blackboard organisation Academic skills resources (2014/15) which includes My Study Skills: the toolkit.

The Academic skills resources Blackboard organisation contains

• My Study Skills: the toolkit (a SHU online resource available this academic year to July 2015)
• skills4studycampus (which has a section on exam skills)
• links to recommended free resources

The first time you go to skills4studycampus you have to register – this is to set up your personal account so that you can see your progress, go back to where you left off and add notes in ‘my journal’.

Finally, the Student Wellbeing Service can offer you lots of support around dealing with stress. They have self-help resources available and can also see you in a one-to-one or a group setting. They run group sessions on areas such as mindfulness and relaxation which many people find helpful.

We hope this is useful for you and will help you to feel prepared as we move towards the January exams. If you have any particular worries or concerns about exams, please feel free to come and speak to your Student Support Officer via your faculty helpdesk or an Advice and Information Adviser at one of our drop-in sessions. These run Monday to Friday at both City and Collegiate campuses.

And remember, stay calm and start preparing!