Student blogs

Hey guys,

hope you're all doing well, some of you may be in your last year of A Levels and feeling the pressure.

DON'T PANIC!! Here are a few tips to help you deal with the stress and revision.

• Take mini breaks every so often, an hour of revision then a 20 minute break so that your brain has time to take in what you have learnt.

• Drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated.

• Have plenty of food near you to keep your energy up.

• Test yourself or even teach others what you have revised.

• Form little groups and teach each other topics.

• Get some sleep!!! Very important, trust me.

• Listen to classical music in order to open up your mind and help you relax.

• Try past papers so you get a feel of how you may have to answer questions.

• Keep your notes organised.

• Spend more time concentrating on what you are finding difficult, but don't ignore the easy stuff; forgetting easy stuff can lose you easy marks.

• Don't leave your revision till 2 days before your exams; it's very hard to cram.

• Create mind maps and flow diagrams to help with revision.

I hope these tips work and good luck with any upcoming exams.

Over the weekend I released my very first single. And I must admit that I am nowhere near as excited about it as I probably should be. This particular song ‘Weathervane' is a song of which I have written in the past. I wrote about the song writing and what it meant to me to write it. It was produced and co-written by Rogerio of Take The Beat, http://takethebeat.com/. With artwork by Kjerstin,http://kjerstin-art.tumblr.com/ .
I am thankful to Rogerio for all the work he's put in to this single. I honestly don't, don't know where this work would be without him. Mr Rogerman, we've got a long way to go yet! And to Kjerstan, also much thanks indeed.
It's due to be on iTunes soon, although it can be purchased on Amazon Music now, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Weathervane/dp/B00ADC0LWW/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1353933126&sr=1-1-catcorr.

People keep telling me to be proud after releasing my first single. And in truth I'm trying. But I know that I've many more songs left to record and I'm still studying for my Masters. I currently work the night shift and have fairly busy days so proper rest is a thing of the past. My social skills are slowly leaving me as I try to shun being social, despite the attentions of friends and acquaintances. I cannot afford to stop and feel any sort of pride in any supposed accomplishment. I'm so far from done it's unbelievable.

One thing I do know; the shore is a long way behind me now and that continues to give me hope. I may have some way to go yet before I can claim pride in anything, I know that I've come some distance.

Just some 2am musings!

As many students get a loan when they come to uni to pay for all their living expenses, it can often feel like Christmas has come early when you see loads of money going into your account at the beginning of every term. However it doesn't mean you can go out buying new cars or expensive jewellery! As I have found this year, you really need to budget to make sure you can stretch your money as far as possible.

Here are some tips to make sure you can afford to eat as well as go out:

• Work out how much money you have for each week and stick to it!

• Write down what you spend your money on in each week with an amount (e.g.: food - £15). This will let you see what you're spending the majority of your money on.

• Switch to cheaper products, for example, by buying Sainsbury's basics instead of expensive branded products.

• Get a part time job. At this time of year there are loads of Christmas jobs going in Kingston and this means that you can earn some more money to make sure you can afford Christmas presents, but also to boost your bank balance!

• Only buy what you really need. It can be very tempting to go out on a massive shopping spree, but make sure you have enough to pay for stationery, books and printer ink when you least expect it!

• Open a student account. All you need is a letter of proof from your university (or a UCAS letter worked for me) and some ID and you can open a student bank account. This means that you'll get an overdraft for emergencies and to make sure that you always have something to fall back on if something major happens and you run out of money. They also offer many different benefits depending on the bank, e.g. Santander offer gadget insurance.

• Make sure you tick the box on Student Finance; that means that they send your information to your university to see if you're eligible for a bursary. This is always useful if your family doesn't earn a lot, in order to keep you going.

I hope that these tips help you to make sure that you don't run out of money throughout the year, and that you don't have to live of pot noodles for the last couple of weeks of each term! This way you can also try and save for a few nice days away in the summer holidays, or buying that new outfit you've been resisting all year!