How to Fast During Exams

There might not be any shortcuts to Ramadan but there aren't any for exams either. Whether you're a stress eater or just someone who suffers from the roja brain, exam season is never fun when it coincides with Ramadan. Not only is there the obvious food deprivation for long hours at a stretch, there's the sleep deprivation and the usual Ramadan rituals. 

When you've to earn your blessings AND your grades, here's how you do it. 

SCHEDULE EVERYTHING

Plot your study routine around your Ramadan routine. Study when you're less likely to be distracted by hunger pangs while fasting and fit in more after iftaar. There's usually a decent stretch of time between after iftaar (and taraweeh) till sehri, so schedule your sleep to get both resting and studying done. Alternatively, you can nap and study at a stretch from sehri/Fajr onwards. Being sleep deprived for a long period of time won't help, neither will clumsily cramming in hurried revision sessions. Find out what works and go with it.

STUDY AHEAD OF TIME

I learnt this lesson the hard way having attempted to cram all my revision the night before an exam with a huge syllabus. The result? I was too exhausted and too hungry to think straight, combined the names of two historic figures into one brand new non-existent name and pretty much flunked the question carrying most of the weight of the paper. It might seem like a lot of hard work but cramming in a bit of revision time before Ramadan starts can ease quite a bit of pressure. Work on things that might be time consuming or difficult to cope with. Or end up turning Yahya Khan and Ayub Khan into Yakub Khan.

EAT SMARTER

There are plenty of foods that can boost your energy and get you through the day better. Research your food, see what works for you best and eat what will help you cope with exams better. I know that after not having eaten all day the last thing we want to do for iftaar and sehri is sacrifice the good stuff. But grades. Some of the stuff that work for a lot of people are dates, oats, milk and other things that mothers try to get us to eat but we don't. 

If nothing works, there's always haleem to drown your sorrows in.