The year has flown by in a breeze and exams are already knocking on our door. Before I came to LSE, I had heard an infamous story of a guy at LSE who had brought his sleeping mat to the library during the exams and was also spotted brushing his teeth in the morning! I was prepared for stress here, but coping with stress is a different ball-game altogether.

Graduate life at LSE isn’t easy. You are constantly meeting deadlines and timelines, juggling work commitments with academic ones. Part-time students juggle work life with education and full-time students juggle normal life with education. Both are equally stressful and the feeling of growing up is most evident during this phase. Marks are not the tension now, what matters is what we get out of this degree, and what we have learnt from our time at LSE.

But, there are many ways to deal with this stress, and LSE campus itself has some stress-relieving options!

Here are some tips (and places) to cope with stress and exam tension at LSE:

1. Relax, the library is open 24/7

If you overslept a little today, don’t get stressed about the library closing at 12 am. The library is open 24/7 for the whole of Lent term!

2. The café outside LSE library is open till 9pm on Weekdays and till 6pm on weekdays

A lot of students have missed out the tiny café right behind the library. This café is open till 9pm from Monday – Thursday and till 6pm from Friday- Sunday. So in case you need to clear your mind with some tea and quick snacks, you can always visit the Plaza café!

3. iRoam service on the first floor of the library

As per LSE IMT rules, students can issue Macbooks from the first floor of the library! So in case all the computers on campus are occupied, you can always issue a MacBook for yourself!

4. Free Office 365 for LSE students

To make life easier for students, a free subscription of Microsoft Office 365 is available for all LSE students till the end of the academic year. So in case you feel your outdated version of Microsoft Office needs upgrading, do get your free subscription!

5. The Postgraduate common room

The Postgraduate common room is exclusively for Postgraduate students, and is the place to head to, if you want some calm and peace from the hustle and bustle of the real world. Not only does the room have its own coffee making machine, it also has microwaves to heat food! (Plus, its open till 12am on Weekdays!)