THE MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD TO HANDLE EXAM STRESS
Exam stress affects most students in different ways. It is important to manage this stress and find little methods of helping to eliminate the risk of burnout.
For some students, exams can be a breath of wind; revision is second nature to them and they could master an exam with their eyes closed. But for others, sweaty palms and heart palpitations are just a part of the region, and it seems that nothing is more unmanageable than sitting down and revising. Here are some handy tips that can help to banish stress and make sure you can get through exam season.
- Take regular breaks and schedule in enjoyable things to look forward to
Even the most acute exam timetables will allow a slight time for a study break. This can include 20-minute intervals during your revision day, and longer activities that you can look forward to. Go out for dinner with friends, go to the cinema, attend a gig, anything that you like doing in your free time that will divert your mind from exams for a while. Spending a little time away from the books will leave you feeling more refreshed and reinvigorate the next time you revise.
- Exercise and get outdoors
Easily one of the most annoying things about exam season is that it seems to appear just as the weather brightens up. Use this as an edge and go out for a walk, or a run, or head to the gym or swimming pool. As well as keeping you healthy, work out is known to boost your mood and can help to make you more productive while revising.
- Don’t (always) listen to others
As the recent locution goes: “comparison is that the crook of joy”. While it is helpful to discuss topics with fellow students and many a time to memorize together, try not to differentiate other peoples’ revision to your own. Possibilities are you’re doing just fine, and listening to other people talk about what they’ve learned will only worry you out and may make you feel like you aren’t doing as well as them. Plus, if they themselves are stressed this can be passed on to you and other people’s stress is not what you want right now.
- Speak to someone
If the stress gets to a point where it is enormous and is influencing your day-to-day life, try and speak to someone about it. In this case, you can speak your heart out to your teacher or you can take the help of any faculty member with whom you feel comfortable to share your exam phobia. If that looks like too big a step, open up to a family member or a friend about the pressure you feel. You’ll be astonished to know that you aren’t alone in feeling like this.
10 quick ways to help eliminate exam stress
- Watch a film, a TV show or listen to a podcast or wisecracker that makes you laugh.
- Drink some herbal tea or hot cocoa. It’s a well-known reality that hot drinks are known to calm the soul (avoid too much caffeine though!).
- A shower or a bath can help to alleviate stress.
- Cook or bake something. Just the thought of having something mouth-watering to eat can bring you joy. As a bonus side note, try and cook something healthy too. You can’t feed your mind well if you don’t feed your body well.
- Get some sleep. The righteousness of a good night’s sleep during exam season should not be underestimated.
- Keep things in perspective. Yes, exams are important. But you are such a lot over your test results.
- Avoid other stressed people. You know the ones I mean. The ones with cue cards outside of the test hall, frantically attempting to recollect key dates and equations. They will do nothing for your stress levels.
- Avoid the exam “post-mortem”. You don’t get to savvy people fared within the exam. You’ve done your best, you can’t return and alter your answers so the second you step out of the exam hall, focus on your next exam.
- Be flexible. While having a revision time table is one of the best tools in your arsenal for exam success, don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t stick to it. If you accidentally oversleep, don’t write the day off.