Everyone feels stress at exam time, but not everyone deals with the stress in the same way. If you’re finding that you feel overwhelmed and exhausted by exams, our 7 practical tips will help you to feel more confident and in-control as you tackle your tests.
Understanding Exam Stress
As a high school or university student, you’ve probably already learned in biology class that stress is a healthy and necessary phenomenon — it lets us know when we need to pay attention to threats in our surroundings. However, if you’re trying to figure out how to deal with exam stress, you know how annoying it is to feel overwhelmed when you want to focus and study.
In this blog, we’ll offer some quick, practical tips for helping you feel more calm and relaxed as you approach studying for and writing your exams.
Relaxation Techniques for Exam Stress
The best time to prepare for feeling stressed is before the stress starts. The second best time is… right now. According to The Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, students under stress during exam time are more likely to make bad choices that increase their stress. This might include sleeping poorly, drinking lots of caffeinated beverages, smoking, and exercising less. It also becomes harder to control your emotions when you’re stressed, so you might find yourself crying while you try to study, or picking fights with your parents, friends or roommates.
To prevent this, it’s helpful to make yourself a schedule or series of reminders to practice good self care before exam prep starts. However, you can still figure out how to deal with exam stress even if you feel like you’re in the depths of it with no way out.
Our best tips for reducing exam stress are collected here:
1. Talk to Friends & Family 👨👩👧👦
The best way to feel more relaxed is to let your emotions out in a healthy way. Make time to share your feelings with a friend or parent. As we said in the introduction, everyone finds exams stressful. Your friends are sure to want to share their feelings too, and will be glad you started the conversation. Your parents, even if it’s been decades since they were in school, will remember the worry they felt, too. Hearing from them can help you put your stress in perspective and realize that while it’s real, it’s also only temporary.
Talking it out is our #1 tip because it’s proven to be the best way to handle stress, even more so than other methods of self care. Interpersonal connection was more positively associated with stress reduction for students during exam time than any other activity, according to a 2010 study.
2. When to Seek Professional Help 🆘
If your exam stress is leading to panic attacks or an inability to focus on your studies and avoidant behaviour, it may be worthwhile to speak to a professional. You might want to start with your school guidance counsellor, or the mental health services staff at your university. These professionals are trained to help with the stress students feel during exams, and have a lot of experience helping others in the same situation. If you follow all the tips in our guide and still feel overwhelmed, don’t hesitate to reach out to these services for help. Remember that asking for help is not shameful, nor is it proof that you can’t cope. When you’re struggling, it’s brave to look for the support you need.
3. Get Moving: Physical Activity 🏃🏽
One of the easiest ways to reduce stress during exams is to hit the gym (or pool, or park, or wherever you like to get your blood pumping). Even though it can feel like you’re “wasting time”, taking a break from studying to work on your fitness has a number of benefits. It takes your mind off your stress, increases your energy levels, and gets your brain to produce feel-good chemicals. If you’re feeling unable to focus, lace up your sneakers and get outside for at least half an hour.
4. The Role of Nutrition 🥑
When you’re stressed, you probably feel tempted to snack on sugary treats, or hit the fast food counter. While this can feel good in the moment, these foods are not good fuel for your brain and body before studying or taking exams. Instead, try to plan ahead to keep healthy snacks in the cupboard, and plan some simple, healthy meals for the week of your exams. If you’re living at home, your parents will probably be happy to support you by cooking your favourite wholesome meals. If you’re living with roommates, plan some meals together so you can share the work of making them, and everyone can avoid the temptation of the nearest food court. Instead, make a plan to indulge when exams are over as a reward for your hard work.
5. Mindfulness Techniques 🧘
Using mindfulness and meditation practices can be a great way to get relief from the physical symptoms of stress quickly. Though meditation may seem intimidating to start, it’s actually easy to understand some of the basic techniques. They’ll help you feel better in no time. The Dartmouth College Student Wellness Centre website offers a number of free guided recordings that you can use to relax in just a few minutes.
You can also try some simple breathing exercises like closing your eyes and inhaling for a count of five, holding your breath for five, and exhaling for five again. Try that several times as you imagine the knot in your stomach relaxing. Remember as you repeat the exercise that your lungs take up your whole chest cavity, not just the front of your body. Try to picture breathing into your back and side ribs to make them expand with air. With some practice, this exercise will help you calm your body even when you’re sitting in the exam room.
6. The Importance of Sleep 💤
Though it can be hard to fall asleep when your mind is racing, it’s critical that you get a good night’s sleep to help you make the most of your studying and preparation. You can’t perform well in an exam when you’re sleep deprived, so try to avoid pulling an all-nighter and focus on rest as part of preparing, instead. You can use some of the mediation techniques from Step 5 to help you relax your body for sleep. Ideally, aim for 8-9 hours of rest each night, and especially before each of your exams. This is especially important for high school students, as your body and brain are still developing. Though you may not feel like it, you need more sleep at this age than you will in your 20s.
7. Study Techniques 🙇
Using your study time effectively is an important step in reducing your exam anxiety. It’s better to spend shorter, more focused blocks of time absorbing the info you need to learn rather than sitting with your books for hours at a time while you let yourself browse on social media. To prepare for studying, talk to your professor, teacher or TA about the structure of the exam, and how much each section is worth. Try to get as clear an understanding as possible about what subjects the exam will cover. When you have that info, sit down and think about which parts you feel confident about, and which you’ll need extra time to review. Then make yourself a schedule that allows for a quick revision of what you know, and more time to spend on the tricky parts. Be sure to build in breaks for meals and snacks, exercise, and sleep, as well as fun activities.
If you feel really unprepared for a particular subject or topic, don’t worry — you can find an online tutor in as little as a few hours who can talk you through your problems and help you understand the subject matter. Even if you only need an hour or two of help, you can find a helper to meet with you on your schedule to explain any subject that trips you up.
Exam stress is real, and when you feel overwhelmed it can be easy to compare yourself negatively to your peers. Know that they feel the pressure too, even if they don’t show it on the outside. Be sure to ask for help when you need it, whether from family or friends, a qualified mental health professional, or from an experienced tutor who can help you feel prepared to take your exams. As you work out how to deal with exam stress, keep in mind that it will be over soon and that taking care of your mental and physical health is more important in the long run than getting straight A’s.
Don’t miss our Student Success Kit for exam study guides, time management tips and other great info to help you conquer exam week stress.
