Managing/coping with exam stress

But these feelings are both natural and normal.  Stress that is managed well can improve our concentration and memory and sharpen our cognitive skills.  It seems that once we recognise this and can see stress as a possible source of help we can harness the benefits.

A study in 2016 showed that students who experience some anxiety around exams tend to outperform those who felt no particular stress.  It was also demonstrated that students who were simply told their anxiety would enhance their performance without any further intervention showed improved test scores both immediately and even 6 months later.

The trick is to keep anxiety at a manageable level as too much stress puts us all into the fight/flight/freeze response.  This response also shuts down our prefrontal cortex as it is likely to slow us down when faced with danger, but it is the part of the brain we rely on to perform well in exams.  Most of us know that feeling of ‘going blank’ and being unable to think, but it is possible to pull back from this position, even during an exam and regain control of our thoughts.

The first step is to acknowledge that it is stressful to face a test of any sort, and our feelings are an entirely rational response.

Anxiety manifests itself in us through physical symptoms – for example we breathe faster and start to sweat, perhaps to feel sick.  However, we can push back and regain control with other deliberate actions.

Breathing exercises are the first and quickest way to reduce symptoms (see links below) and are used by all professional performers, whether in sport or music.  These work because by deliberately imitating the breathing patterns we use naturally when we are calm, we fool the brain into thinking that things can’t really be that bad, and anxiety levels start to drop down to manageable levels.

Grounding exercises are another good technique and are quick and easy to deploy in an exam room.

Another useful method is to take a very cold or frozen water bottle into the exam room with you – touching this to the pulse points on your inner wrists can rapidly bring you back from a spiral of anxiety.

It takes about 2 minutes for the brain to respond to these cues.  Doing a breathing exercise whilst waiting to be told to open your paper or during the exam will keep your mind alert and manage any anxiety that might blindside you.

There is also great deal you can do to manage your overall stress levels in the run-up to exams.  Try thinking of your capacity to tolerate stress as fixed.  I like the image of a glass to visualise this.  Every day, stress is poured into the glass by things small and large.  If there is too much stress then the glass overflows and you are tipped into the fight/flight/freeze response, which works like an electrical circuit breaker cutting the power off when the system is overloaded.  As we know that exams are by their nature stressful, the best thing is to reduce your other sources of stress to make room in the glass to hold it.

Start by looking at your nutrition, hydration and sleep – think of them as a 3-legged stool.  If all legs are in good shape, then you can safely sit on the stool, but if any of the legs are wobbly it will take a lot of effort just to stop sliding off!  Problems with these will cause a certain amount of stress that you may not even notice until the last drop of stress falls into the glass and it overflows.

Normal activities must be maintained as a sudden change in routine will cause some stress.    Don’t isolate yourself socially or stop your usual forms of exercise, these are key to helping you keep exam anxiety at bay.

One of the biggest causes of exam anxiety is uncertainty and the anti-dote to this is preparation.  Firstly and most importantly make sure you have a copy of the exam specification, mark scheme and any other resources the examination boards post.  These will tell you exactly what will be in each paper, and what the examiner needs to see to award marks.

Practise EVERYTHING, not just the test papers:

• Use timers constantly: this helps train your brain to recognise what, for example, 20 minutes feels like

• Practise extended writing using the pens you will take into the exam

• Practise working sitting up at a desk

• Practise calculating time on an analogue clock as that might be the one in your exam room

• Practise breathing exercises and grounding exercises

• Experiment with the most comfortable clothes

• Rehearse the journey into the exam centre

• Practise getting up in time to be in an exam and alert at 9.30 in the morning if you have exams then

• Practise concentrating with other people around you (a library is excellent for this)

Make sure you have a revision timetable which includes allocated times for eating , sleeping, exercise and socialising.   Put in empty ‘buffer slots’ so that if the unexpected happens (and it will!) and you miss a study session, you have another space to put it in.

Rehearse all the “what-ifs” you can think of.  What if there is a train strike?  What if I lose my bag with my notes?  What if I lose my glasses?  What if I have a panic attack ?  Rehearsing all of these and identifying solutions will really reduce the levels of stress in your glass!  Find someone helpful (who is not taking exams themselves) and role play the possible situation that worry you until you are confident that you know exactly what to do whatever happens.

And if it all goes wrong?  This isn’t the end of the world either.  There are many options out there and plenty of people to help you find the right one for you.

Sitting exams is stressful – it is completely normal to feel apprehensive, but you can remain in control by using simple strategies.  Your anxiety is part of a system that is designed to keep you safe, by acknowledging that and taking charge you will start to make it work for you, not against.