The saying “less is more” is true for many things in life, and as I’m now learning, studying is one of them.

Often when there are exams coming up, it’s easy to think that studying all the information for a long period of time is a good way to go, especially on a time crunch. However, this is not the proper way to study, and it especially isn’t when you want to avoid burnout.

Studying for long uninterrupted periods of time can easily become overwhelming as you try to review large amounts of information all at once, and if you have multiple exams all coming up, like in finals week, then this is not an effective way to study at all.

Ideally, you should start studying days before a test to avoid becoming overwhelmed with the information all at once.

But since we can’t be perfect all of the time, it’s understandable to need to cram every once in a while. Thus, it’s important that you remember to take breaks while studying in order to not feel overwhelmed or burnt out. Especially during finals week.

For me, one of the best ways I find to study for an exam while taking breaks is to set timers for 45 minutes of work and to have 5 minutes of break time in between.

If you feel like trying this method out, there are also apps, like Flora which I use, which help you keep track of your work and break time. This app also motivates you to stay off your phone so you can focus better while studying.

If you try this method out, you may want to add more or less work time, but the important part is that you always remember to take a break away from your work in order to come back refreshed.