How to balance exam season and traineeship applications

Written by Ailsa Gardyne

INTRODUCTION

My name is Ailsa Gardyne, a first-year trainee in Turcan Connell’s Tax and Succession Department. I studied both my LLB and DPLP at the University of Aberdeen and was part of the Aberdeen University Law Society committee throughout my time at university, culminating with being President in my final year of the LLB.

With the end of the second semester approaching, brings exams, final pieces of coursework and traineeship application deadlines. This can be a very difficult and stressful time of year for many students as they try to juggle maintaining good grades alongside preparing for their future. I remember finding this extremely overwhelming when I first found myself faced with this balancing act. It can be hard to find a way to dedicate your time fully to not only your university work and applications but also to leaving time for jobs and still being able to spend time with friends and do the things you enjoy in your personal life.

Some methods that I used to help me balance exam season and applications, as well as allow time for me to do the things I enjoy, involved making trackers and time blocking.

Trackers

I quickly realised that a key skill for this balancing act was through strong organisation. I have always been a huge fan of spreadsheets, and I am by no means an expert at Excel, but I found that basic spreadsheets for applications and university were key in keeping on top. I had two separate spreadsheets, one focused on my university work and exam dates and the other on applications.

I found it helpful right from the beginning to list all the firms I had identified as ones to which I would like to apply for, listing the relevant application dates (i.e., when the applications opened and the deadline to submit). I also found it helpful to make a note of the application process whenever I could find this information. This helped me easily visualise what would be required for each firm’s application process.

Once the applications opened, I would track my progress with the application on my tracker so I could ensure it would be completed in plenty of time against the deadline. This was especially helpful when multiple firms’ application windows would cross over.

I would replicate this for my university tracker and ensure I checked both regularly so that no deadlines came as a surprise. I found this method was key for keeping on top of both my university work and my applications as it allowed me to keep a cohesive list of my progress and quickly check to ensure I was keeping to relevant deadlines.

Time Blocking

Another method which I found helped me to balance university and applications was time blocking. I would physically mark down time in my calendar and planners, which would be dedicated to either university or applications.

For university, I would ensure all my exams and deadlines were marked in my calendar and from this, I would work backwards and allocate slots of time to work on the coursework or to revise for the exam. I found this structure particularly helpful to keep me disciplined with my university work throughout the stressful period of applications.

Alongside marking time for my university work, I would block out time in my calendar to either work on applications for firms or do research into firms. Having these blocks of time made the process seem less daunting and overwhelming as I knew I had dedicated time to work on my applications.

My Advice

My biggest piece of advice to a current student going through this period would be to utilise the organisation and time management skills you’ve built up during your time so far at school and university, as it is the key to balancing exams and applications. Being disciplined with your time will allow you to not only keep on top of university and applications but also let you disconnect when enjoying time for yourself, without feeling guilty or overwhelmed, as you know you have the time blocked out to work on both university work and traineeship applications.

I would also advise making time to keep up to date with the news and anything going on at the firms you are applying to, even if this is just watching the news or looking through LinkedIn while you eat your breakfast in the morning. Ensuring that you set aside this time to understand what the firm does and how it is affected by what goes on in the world is so important for developing your applications further and coming across as well-informed in assessment centres and interviews.

CONCLUSION

I believe that utilising these methods helped me to secure my traineeship with Turcan Connell while continuing to meet all my deadlines and keep my grades consistent. Developing methods to balance exam season and traineeship applications has, helped with my organisation and time management as a trainee.

Make sure you keep an eye out for Turcan Connell’s Traineeship applications, which open in early August 2025.