Handling exam stress

Consultant paediatrician and specialist in adolescent medicine Dr Asha Pemberton shares some of the concerns young students face at school.

The final exams are just a mere two months away. There is nothing that scares and brings anxiety to Caribbean students more than the upcoming CXC examinations. This time can be one of the most difficult times in the life of all students. We have to totally dedicate ourselves to understand the syllabus and clear out the topics to be studied; all while handling the dreaded group work for the school-based assignment.

Generally, we become much stressed as the exam months are closer. A lot of confusion exists within our minds. After getting the official timetable we become tenser, as it becomes nerve-racking to decide what to prepare and how to prepare in the most efficient way. Many of us have pressure to come out of the exams with stellar grades. These expectations can be unrealistic and not be based on our strengths and weaknesses. These expectations can also create pressure on us to meet parents expectations, which creates feelings of inadequacy when they can’t be met. The increased tension, pressure, and continued stress of online learning leaves uncertainty in our minds as to our outcomes

To stop this stress from becoming all-encompassing, there are many methods of dealing with pre-exam anxiety; practising self-care, mindfulness, active recall while studying, and being flexible with your time are just a few examples.

Exam stress is easier to deal with when you have prepared correctly and taken control of you study sessions. Organising your study sessions in the months leading up your exams requires that you prepare a study schedule and stick with it. The study schedule should have school, social, travel, sport and even downtime on it. The schedule should be at least a month in advance so you work around the unexpected events. Eat the right foods and exercise, will help you reduce your exam stress and allow you to maximise your performance during the final exams. With the correct nutrition you can actual increase your intelligence during the exams.

In the mistaken belief that we can learn everything the night before. Cramming will in fact end up lowering your mental performance as you did not get your eight hours restful sleep before the exam, and what you would have ‘studied’ would have gone into short-term memory rather than long-term. A better way to learning than cramming the night before the exams? Simply stick to your study schedule and break down the study sessions into smaller 30-minute slots. If your work requires more time? Take a five-minute break away from the study and then add another 30-minute study slot.

When you walk out of that exam room, you may feel like the exam has gone horribly wrong. Despite all your studying you had a complete mind blank and could barely scratch together an answer. Or you know you wrote a lot, but you have a feeling that it is utterly incoherent. What do you do now? Remember, however badly you feel you may have done, you won’t know for sure until the results come through. Spending that time speculating on what you may or may not have achieved, worrying about what happens next if things have gone badly, isn’t going to change the outcome at all and will only make you feel more stressed and more worries. Write down everything that is on your mind and put it to one side. You’ll be surprised how much writing your worries down can help take the stress away.