Exam Stress

Exam stress is the stress that students get when preparing for an exam. Stress is sometimes linked to nervousness or anxiety. Being stressed about an exam doesn’t necessarily mean that you will have some deep-lying psychological issues or any mental health issues, being stressed for an exam is part and parcel of the student experience at all ages, whether you’re a youngster sitting their SATs for the first time, or you’re a mature student sitting an exam, everyone will experience it and it’s okay to feel it.

There are not always exam stress symptoms either. Symptoms of exam stress manifest themselves in different ways all the time, just make sure you look after yourself.

How to deal with exam stress

There are plenty of ways of dealing with exam stress. Some of these also serve as a good way of living a healthy lifestyle at university as well, which is an added bonus.

• Fuelling your body: It is important to fuel your body and mind with fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and healthy snacks as part of a balanced diet, where you either choose to have three meals a day, or five much smaller meals a day.
• Have a good morning routine: Set up a morning routine. Our bodies and minds love a routine; it is a representation of familiarity that the brain can become accustomed to and also allows us to gain a level of control because the same things are occurring each and every day.
• Give yourself a break, doing the things you love: Students should incorporate things that they enjoy doing within their daily routine, whether that is watching a movie or television series, playing on a games console, or socialising with friends. The brain requires downtime to be able to process and store the information that you study each and every day and is vital that you don’t overwork yourself – as it will only do more damage than good.
• Drink plenty: The NHS recommends women should drink 1.6 litres of fluid, and men should drink 2 litres of fluid each day. If you find that you naturally drink more than this that is okay too, listen to what your body needs and react in the correct way.

These are all great ways to beat exam stress.

However, there are many solutions to combat stress that you can begin to incorporate into your daily routine to ease the feeling of being overwhelmed. Just try and space out your revision periods as best you can, doing revision for too long will only stress you out and send you loopy!

How to relieve exam stress

Your emotions will also play a vital role in your ability to reduce the level of stress you may incur during GCSE study leave. One great way to beat stress, anxiety and procrastination is to understand that the future is coming, you are going to have to sit these GCSE exams, and the only thing that you can do to change the future at all is to revise and do the best that you can on the day.

The exams are a tough time for most students, but they will come and go – they won’t be there every day for the rest of your life, and they will, very quickly, become the past. Instead of using your energy on worrying about your exams, try to focus on what you can do to help the situation, such as; revising with past GCSE exam papers, completing your revision plan and try to achieve your personal study goals, and try your hardest every day.