The Library Revision Survival Guide

Exams are around the corner and it’s fair to say that we’re all trying to cram in as much info as possible.

As we all retreat into library for hibernation season, we give you ten top tips to keep you sane and make sure you get the best out of your study sessions.

1. Get in early

Always aim to get to the main library before nine. This may sound suicidaly early to be trekking onto campus but this sacrifice of the lay in is vital for securing the best library spots. Did you know there are only six booths which have plug sockets (and in one it doesn’t work)? In order to secure these top secret stops pre-9am arrival is a must.[1]

The holy grail?

2. Bring Snacks

When doing a full library day packing snacks is essential. One flask of a hot caffeinated beverage (the Ilounge is a HUGE rip-off, those cups of tea are teeny-tiny), pop in at least one healthy thing to help avoid revision scurvy, and treat yourself to a packet of Jaffa Cakes. These are the ultimate revision tool – they can be eaten silently (no crunch), they have chocolate (proven to realise endorphins), carbs in the cake bit (to keep you full) and the orange jelly is practically one of your five a day. They are also really cheap in Aldi… But if you get bored, just about any packet of biscuits will do.

3. Be brutal

When it comes to annoying people in the library and staking out you territory there can be no Mr Library Nice Guy! It someone is sitting on your reserved computer, or has their music so loud you can hear it, or is going for that last slice of cake in the café be brutal and bring them down. Revision is a time of selfishness and in the library it is those who are brave enough to tell those Freshers to clear off that will be rewarded with the best workspace.

4. Phone and Facebook out of sight

Just don’t go there, you say that you can work with Facebook up in the background, but the next thing you know you have lost a valuable hour in revision time scrolling through pictures of your friend’s cousin’s teacher’s cat. Also any proximity to social media might inspire a feeling-sorry-for-yourself-study status and they are very annoying.

Get those phones out of sight

5. Remember to get fresh air

After all the months of sunless winter we have had we are all looking pretty pasty. Don’t increase this ghostly parlour further by becoming a library vampire. A quick walk across campus to Spar will help restore a healthy colour, provide some valuable Jaffa cake calorie burning exercise and allow you to stock up on discount Lucozade.

6. Keep moving

When I say moving I don’t mean just switching between the Orange and Purple computer clusters. Mixing up which library you go to will give you the exciting opportunity to explore uncharted parts of campus (where even is the chemistry building?) and allow you to avoid the horrors of the main library toilets…

Getting too comfortable in one spot results in one thing: naps

7. Don’t get overheated

If you are working in the main library summer clothing is essential. The combination of bodies, stress sweat and overheating laptop batteries make the main library a sauna of despair – so a t-shirt, some roll on and 1l bottle of water are pretty essential

Also Costa’s crisps are dehydrating and way too pricey

7. Position yourself near a toilet

It is common sense pick a place with a toilet in thirty second dashing distance to minimise the time you leave your laptop unattended…especially with all the thefts at the moment.

9. Quality of time spent there, not quantity

Doing an all-nighter might make you seem like the ultimate library study hard core but if all you actually did is drop off in a booth and do a bit of distracted doodling you might as well have stayed at home with Game of Thrones. Four hours of hard work is worth so much more than twenty hours of procrastination.

The all-nighter effect

10. Library friends are friends for life

Just remember that everyone in the library is just as stressed and highly strung as you, so being a bit nicer and more forgiving than usual really pays off. Why not share your Jaffa Cakes with the weeping literature student next to you? Or at least remember to say thank you when you kick someone off a reserved computer?

And be especially nice to the Liberians, we are making them work twenty four hours after all.

We’ll miss you when you’re demolished, main library

[1] (I will never publically disclose the locations of these plugs, you will have to seek them for yourself)