Revising in Ramadan

As Ramadan begins with only a week or two to GCSE and A-Level exams, Muslim students will be revising while fasting with no food or water intake for around 18-19 hours. Here are the most useful tips that could help you to maximise your revision while fasting:

Eat Healthily & Keep Hydrated

Fried foods like Samosas and fat-dense curries together with high-sugar foods such as desserts lead to tiredness. Replace these with healthier options with grilled meats and slow release carbohydrates such as potatoes, bananas and rice; eat at least two portions of fruit and fibrous vegetables such as broccoli. Furthermore, take a good quality one-a-day vitamin supplement to keep your immune system strong.

Drinking plenty of water between sunset and dawn. This will help keep your concentration levels high the following day and ensure that you do not become tired the following day. So keep a full water bottle with you, sipping it throughout the night.

Strategically Plan Revision Times

Plan your revision timetable strategically around the times when you are most energetic and alert; conversely, plan your sleeping times when you are the most tired. So for example, when on study leave, you may choose to stay awake after Suhoor (the pre-dawn meal) and revise your most difficult subjects while you are energised and fully hydrated until the early afternoon (with short breaks), and then go to bed after the Dhuhr prayer which can be performed as soon as it starts.

If you prefer, you could work for a few hours after Suhoor on your toughest subjects and then sleep until late afternoon, performing the Dhur prayer towards the latter part of its time and then study for another couple of hours before the time to break fast on the less challenging subjects. Then after breaking fast and the night prayers (Tarawi), resume revision of the toughest subjects until Suhoor time.

In short, experiment and adopt the timetable that works best for you. If you start to feel tired, go for a quick walk and best of all, plan your breaks around prayer times, the pre-prayer ablution (wudhu) will wake you up!

Avoid Intensive Exercise

Exercise or sports that dehydrate should be avoided while fasting as it will impact the effectiveness of your revision. A short walk during breaks is sufficient for recharging your brain and overcoming tiredness.

Following these simple tips will allow the fasting students to be able to make the most of their revision without compromising their religion during Ramadan.