1.Study together with others!

Your lifestyle leading up to a test can seem pretty boring, doing the same thing every day like a machine. You may lose the time you spend do extracurriculars or hanging out with your friends, for sure, but I actually think the best part about the exam season is getting to study together with your friends.

Getting together with your friends, all of you following your own dreams and working as hard as you can to reach them can be an incredible time in your life.

You may be thinking, “Yeah, but if you all get together, don’t you just forget about studying and screw around?” but that’s not actually what happens.

If you study in groups of 2-4 people, you’ll be able to study. This kind of study style is good even for people who have trouble focusing when they study alone: a friend studying hard next to them should be a good incentive.

If each of you has strengths in different subjects, teaching one another is also a good study method. Teaching something to someone else is one of the quickest ways to deepen your understanding of whatever it is. You may even discover things about the subject you hadn’t noticed until you taught it to someone else.

After studying, you can go to dinner with everyone, and enjoy some “breathing time” when you can talk about things other than studying. Don’t you think that’d make you more motivated for the exam?

2.Make sure to look after your health

Be sure you get enough sleep, and eat and drink properly. Especially just before the exam. Having enough sleep has a huge influence on your memory and mental state, so make sure you finish studying earlier, and try to go to bed at 12 a.m. at the latest. Pulling all-nighters is a dangerous game for test-takers.

3.Can I still do a part-time job?

If you’re already in Japan, make sure you think about why you came to Japan in the first place.

Aside from special situations that would make it necessary, keep your working time to a minimum. Part-time jobs are an effective way of practicing your Japanese. For students studying abroad, entering a Japanese environment as soon as possible, coming to understand Japanese culture, and making Japanese friends are make our time here more enjoyable.

Still, there’s a limit. Try to keep your job from getting in the way of your study or sleep time.

To Kyoto’s international students: to put it simply, go for it with all you’ve got! Focus less on the past, and more on right now. No matter what kind of mistakes you made on tests before, if you start working hard now, you can still improve in time for the next one.

Exam season is a tough time, but looking back on it, you can be surprised at the good memories you can make, too. As much as you can, try to stay upbeat and smile, and move forward one step at a time.

We’re waiting for you at Kyoto’s universities!

To read more about the EJU, see our introductory article, All About the EJU (The Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students)!