Coping With Exams

Feeling a bit stressed about exams is normal - it may help you to focus your energy into revising well. Prolonged and unwanted stress, however, may lead to mental and physical health problems.

Recognise the signs of stress / not coping

Difficulty getting to sleep

Over eating /loss of appetite

Obsessive Dieting

Eye Tic

Finger or foot tapping

Frowning

Nail Biting

Pacing the floor

Loss of interest in personal appearance

Loss of sense of humour

Accident prone

Lethargic

Headaches

Dry Mouth / throat

Tiredness

Feeling sick

Constipation

Diarrhoea

Sudden weight loss / gain

Ulcers

Excessive sweating

Fast breathing / irregular breathing

Feeling Overwhelmed

Irritability

Aggressiveness

Suspiciousness

Fussiness

Restlessness

Loss of Concentration / memory

Feelings of panic

Nightmares

A feeling of loneliness

Frequent crying

Strategies for reducing stress

Relaxation – listen to music, read a book, walk, watch television. Take time to find out what relaxes you.

Exercise - Regular exercise is an excellent way of coping. As little as 10 or 20 minutes a day spent walking, cycling, or at the gym can make a big difference.

Breathing techniques – Breath in through your nose for the count of 7 and out through your mouth for the count of 11. This will help calm any anxious feelings.

Getting a good night's sleep - Allow time to RELAX between work and bed. Stop any school work at least an hour before bed. Take a warm bath. Avoid any caffeine drinks after 6pm.

Feed your brain – Give your brain plenty of energy by eating regular healthy meals. Do not skip meals especially breakfast.

Drink plenty. – Depriving your brain of water makes it tired and unable to work to the best of its ability. Make sure you have plenty to drink.

Support groups - Think about getting together with a friend to study. It can help with revision and give you an opportunity for talking to each other about what is worrying you.

Non-academic problems - Often, exams aren't the only stressful thing going on in people's lives. You may have personal or emotional problems. These may include serious illness, bereavement, caring for another member of the family, holding down a job, coping with divorce or separation, drug and alcohol abuse, or other problems. If this is happening, please ask for support

Time off - Look after yourself. Allow yourself time off away from study. Allow yourself to have fun. Do not give up your life entirely. Keep interests going, keep going out with friends, enjoy time out….cut down but do not cut out completely. These are the things that will keep you sane.

Academic stress

Sort out your priorities -

If you think there's too much work, and not enough time left to do it, write down everything you need to do, and sort it into order of priority. You can then work out what action you need to take for each task, and work your way through your list. You need to take into account which topics are the most important or compulsory, which you already know best, and which you have enough information on.

How to study -

Research suggests that study is best divided into chunks of 30 to 40 minutes with a 5 or 10 minute break in between. At the end of three or four sessions, give yourself half an hour off, with a longer break for lunch and dinner

Mix dull subjects with more interesting ones. If it's hard to get started, begin with something easy.

Recreate exam conditions when studying –

Try to revise in a quiet room with no distractions. Turn of your mobile phone or place it away out of sight. Try if possible to sit at a desk or table when revising.

Have your own revision timetable –

Creating a revision timetable will help organise your thoughts and take away any stress about what to revise first and when. Make the timetable realistic. Do not plan to study five different topics all in one night. Spread them across the week.

On the day -

In the exam room, make yourself comfortable and take a few deep breaths to calm stress. Then turn over the exam paper and take five minutes to read all the questions twice and work out how long you are going to spend on each question or section. You should allow time to read over and check answers at the end. If you cannot decide which questions to tackle, you should go for those you can answer and return to the others later.

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