Exam stress

Exam period isn’t an easy time at least not for majority of people. Exams can cause a huge mumble jumble up in you head and the majority of that mumble jumble is stress. Here are a load of my best ways of getting rid of that monster on your back that is stress.
Stress: ”Stress is the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure, and pressure turns into stress when you feel unable to cope.

Here are my top tips for busting exam stress:

Believe in yourself.
If you prepare properly for your exam you will be great. If you tell yourself that you are prepared and that you can do this you’ve got it in the bag throwing all the unnecessary worry out the window.


Don’t try to be perfect.
It's great to succeed and reach for the stars, but keep things grounded. If you think that "anything less than an A means I've failed" then you are creating mountains of unnecessary stress for yourself. Aim to do your best but do recognise that none of us can be perfect all of the time.


Don’t keep things bottled up.
I don’t mean to state the obvious but exam stress is bad enough and guess what... it’s even worse when you’ve got emotional stress built up on top. Find yourself a trustworthy person ,whether that be a parent, teacher, friend or a random chatroom online, and let it all out. Now if you find it hard to talk to people try writing it out or finding an online diary to hide it all away. Any of these things will let you spill out all the bottled up emotions.


Plan your study timetable.
“Too much material + too little time = stress”
Plan your studying with long study periods with short breaks in between. For example the one I personally find most effective is 50 minute study, 10 minute break, 50 minute study, 10 minute break, etc etc. So try to do something along those lines. I know you probably hear this over and over but when you are studying PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY. I am not saying completely switch it off and leave it with your mum for the day but I do suggest putting it on silent in  drawer or switching it off and putting it under your duvet/ covers or just putting it somewhere you can’t see it because seeing the phone is enough to make you procrastinate.


Plan.
Rest well the night before the exam. Try to get to the exam location early. If you can pick your seat pick one away from windows, doors or any other distractions. Remember to have good time keeping during your exam so take a watch or make sure you can see the clock.


And last but most certainly not least… Breathe.

• Take a deep breath in for a count of seven seconds
• Hold for eight seconds
• And then breathe out for a count of seven seconds

It may seem dead simple but this trick is simple, easy to remember and works wonders on stress levels every time. 

I hope you can take something useful out of this article. I wish you all beyond the best of luck with your exams and remember always write something down… it’s better to have something little than nothing at all.

​Nicole