An open letter to freshers in the library this exam season

During exam season, the tension on campus is instantly recognisable. Between coursework deadlines, exams and the Bertie saga it’s easy to get stressed out. And we can certainly forgive the first years for being stressed – it’s their first big set of exams, since those that enabled them to get into university. As such, it would be correct to assume that these exams for university also need every minute of revision you can throw at them, right? Wrong.

“I only need to get 40%,” you say. Honey, you could get that if you turned up to the exam having been at Crisis the night before, as many students have proved in the past. This is your one opportunity to procrastinate and have some fun without feeling bad about it. Please go and take the chance on behalf of those of in second year and above, whose exams actually count. Plus, many of you live in catered halls, which have their own libraries for you to revise in. You don't even have to leave your accommodation to go to a library to revise!

As a wise second year, I understand that you want to do well, but I can tell you that, as long as you actually pass, nobody actually cares what marks you achieved in first year.

So please, take it from me, you don’t need to be pulling all-nighters to revise or finish coursework. It really isn’t that deep. You can put in every hour of every day and yet, when you make it to second year you will be starting from nothing, whether your first year average was a first or a third.

Of course, I’m not saying that you should do no revision whatsoever, that would be irresponsible of me. But go out, have a bit of fun and try not to stress out. This is your one chance to make the most of the fun side of being a student with (almost) no responsibilities. Please go and take it, for me and all of the other students who actually need to revise for our futures. Believe me, you’ll regret it next year if you don’t.