Strange exam habits: ‘I teach a class to the people walking by’

Always working on the same desk, a chocolate bar a day or making plants grow in an app: students come up with the oddest ways to maintain concentration in the weeks leading up to their examinations.

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Reporter Sanne Engelen knows the best way to get through the exam period: by eating a chocolate bar every day. Master’s student Kamogelo (Accounting), practices for her exam by reciting the course material out loud. “When nobody’s around, I talk to an imaginary audience, but sometimes I open the window and ‘teach’ a class to random passers-by.”

As a PhD candidate in Econometrics, Shintalo no longer has to sit any exams. But he remembers going to the sauna a lot when he was a student in order to relax and get away from the material for a while. “Then I would take a bath, at which point my exam would be the furthest thing from my mind.”

Linen-scented candle

Elia (Communication and Media) prefers to study in his room. “Totally isolated from society and doing nothing but studying.” Sometimes, though, he leaves his cave to go for a walk. “That’s not something I normally do – only when I’m studying for an exam. It helps me concentrate.” During the exam period, IBA student Gracie always lights a candle before she goes to bed. “A linen-scented one, from Primark.”

Kamogelo has one last tip for her fellow students: an app she discovered recently. “You can make plants grow in the app. The more you study, the faster your plants grow.” For those who want to give it a try, the app is called Focus Plant.