From reading out loud to meditating and strict routines, students have different study methods. Jamie Iain Genovese reads up with three students.

In a few days, it will be October. As I write this, the hot, humid September air persists and pervades, but in a few days, it will be October, I reassure myself. In a few days, students will return in their thousands to a university campus prepped for freshers’ week. For some it will be their first year there, the titular “freshers” of “freshers’ week”. For some it will be their last. And for many others it will be their middle years.

Either way, they’re all turning back to the academic grindstone once more. They will learn their texts, write their assignments and take their exams. Everyone has their own way of preparing for exams, and I seek to explore some.

Philippa Cassar. Photos: Jamie Iain Genovese

The first person I meet is Philippa Cassar, whose study habits are not exactly unfamiliar to me. Her odd ways are even recognised by her neighbours.

I’m familiar with Philippa’s cramming sessions she has in the weeks leading up to exams, but I meet up with her in her instrument-strewn room to get some of the gorier details of her modus operandi. First things first: she stays focused by pacing, notes in hand, outside her room, starting as early as 6am (wake-up call at 5.30am, naturally) and carrying on until the sun comes out in its full heat. On hotter days, she prefers to hit two birds with one stone and work on her tan as she paces outside her house.

She has, roughly, two breaks a day, one of which consists of a long lunch, another dedicated to exercise. Her preferred ­methods? Cycling, mostly. On some days she ditches the bike and simply changes tack by working on her music instead. She’ll eat whatever’s available, but she admits a penchant for rosemary crackers and blood orange juice.

She almost invariably reads aloud in different accents or turns notes into songs

On the rare occasion she actually sits down to work she has one must: a creaky, spinning chair. In other words, movement of some kind is a must. Philippa says that she almost invariably reads aloud in different accents or turns notes into songs in order to really absorb what she’s studying. She then proceeds, after a little goading from me, to recite a Maltese intermediate essay she studied in first year, sixth form. She does so, perfectly and without pause. Her study methods must be working.

Dylan Caruana

Next I meet Dylan Caruana, whose study habits were formed during his timeat university.

“The first thing you have to do is meditate,” Dylan says.

The meditation Dylan describes is meditation as cultivation, of awareness, attention span, and single-mindedness in order to gain a mindfulness that looks inwards and is not object based. He got interested in the subject after a study that both he and I had read – but forgotten the name of – that spoke about the increase in gamma wave oscillations and their relation to meditation. He equates two to three hours of study with about half an hour of meditation and says this forms a vital part of his process. What he seeks to rid himself of is chronosthesia, which is what you feel when the past and future keep interrupting your present.

These are the only mugs she will use, much like she will only use the same blue pen for the duration of her studies

Meditation consists of only Dylan’s first part of his study routine: the second is flashcards, on a little app called Quizlet. He takes notes, or the notes on the virtual learning environment, and transliterates them into question and answer flashcards. The app has a visual version as well as an audible version of the notes: this allows Dylan to study constantly, while walking, showering, or simply sitting down in the library. This eventually becomes a joy of sorts, which is quite the blessing really seeing as studying is an all-year-round effort for Dylan, one fuelled by instant black coffee with no sugar.

Emily Galea

Venturing once again into the unorthodox, I ask Emily Galea about a normal day in her study life. The first thing she tells me is that she has a study dress: a comfortable, polka dotted, and well-worn garment that once functioned as any other wardrobe item but has since graduated into the specialised function of a study aid.

She then shows me two mugs: one colourful and decorated from Istanbul, and the other a Beatles mug, featuring the famous album cover of Abbey Road. These are the only mugs she will use, much like she will only use the same blue pen for the duration of her studies. Throughout her day she will, coffee in tow, move around the house to study. There is a specific place where she sits for a specific time during which she will study a specific chapter. This is an almost ceaseless effort, which is only interrupted in order to write down the name of a ­particularly good song that played on the day’s Spotify playlist.

For Emily, the hours before an exam are the worst, particularly morning ones, for she spends hours brainstorming on sample papers. Such an immutable ­routine eventually starts to resemble a well-oiled machine or a German ­automobile (same thing, really ­efficient and reliable.

Finally is an anonymous contributor, who assures me that he procrastinates right up until the last few weeks and then proceeds to cram every note, book and slideshow at his disposal. This is consoling to me, for in my student days, I did the exact same thing. This, I think, is what most people do.

The take-home message here is this: find what works for you and stick to it.