I thought I would offer my patented study tips for anyone who is desperate enough to follow advice from a newspaper columnist (you realise any monkey can do this, right?). Or perhaps you're using this as a distraction from algebra or the causes of the Russian Revolution, something I would wholeheartedly recommend.

Tip no.1: If you sit on your bed with your knees up and an open folder resting on them, anyone who enters your bedroom will think you are working hard. Meanwhile you could be enjoying a pleasant afternoon reading a novel (which is what I used to do - you kids today will be watching Tik Tok vids, I'm sure.)

Tip No.2: Lie down on your bed or floor. Spread all your notes out around you. Make sure your head is resting on or under some of them. Now close your eyes and concentrate. You will soon start to absorb some of the information just by osmosis (which is something they talk about in biology - see, you're learning stuff already!).

Tip No.3: Make a sandwich. Make a cup of tea. Make a cake. Voila! The morning has passed and, with it, the period you had set aside to study maths. Now you have other things to do, like eat cake.

Tip No.4: Get organised. For this you will need a whole new pack of highlighters (trip to the shops may be necessary), a pile of blank A4 sheets of paper (scrap is fine, and better for the environment) and maybe some of those colourful sticky tab things. Now, make lists of everything you need to learn and when you're going to learn it. If you're lucky, you can get through a whole day just making plans and blue tacking them to your walls. Right, what's for dinner?

Tip No.5: Healthy body, healthy mind. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Etcetera. To get you feeling fit and fresh for study, you should definitely go for a run or a cycle, take a walk, play a bit of cricket or have a sesh at the gym. If you find that you need a nap afterwards, that's only natural. Just make sure you wake up in time for your parents/flatmates to walk in the door so you can pose at your desk (make sure to wipe the drool from your face first).

And good luck!