Overcome Exam Stress - Planning and Preparation

Overcome Exam Stress

In todays world exams are an unfortunate necessity. There is a lot of pressure on people to succeed that exam stress is a big part of many peoples lives.

While this article can't make the exams go away it will hopefully help you to deal with some of the stress that you might be feeling and that in turn will allow you to focus on your exams.

Coursework and exams can be stressful. When you're getting stressed about an exam - it just means that you really care about the result you will get. That can be a good thing if it pushes you into working extra hard as you try to get a good result. But it can be bad if you get too worried and the effects of the stress stop you doing well. When exams get too much, the stress can show in your body.

Get together a revision timetable on the first day of study leave

Just do it. Don't argue. Don't procrastinate. Just do the thing. And do it first. Do it on the first day, and once you've done it, agree it with your parents. There is a reason for this…

If you get your parents to agree to the schedule, you can write break/relaxation periods into it. You can explain to your parents that you need all day off on Saturday and Wednesday evenings too. They'll be so chuffed that you've got a revision schedule together they'll agree to anything. Another advantage is that when you are taking a timetabled relaxation/rest break and they go, "What do you think you're doing watching the telly? Haven't you got revision to do?" You can point at the timetabled break session on your revision timetable, raise your eyebrows and give them a smug smile. They will back down and you will have won.

Revise the subjects you hate in the morning
Think of double maths, RE - whatever it is you hate. Now think of doing this for the first two lessons in the morning. Yeuch! There's worse though! Think of doing it last two lessons on a Friday afternoon as you gaze at the minute hand of the clock as it stubbornly refuses to move. Beyond double yeuch!!

It is easier to stomach the stuff you don't much like in the morning. Successful people in all walks of life attribute their success to one simple technique: if you have a set of jobs to do, you do the most difficult thing, the thing you hate, first. This means when you've just got up. Don't save up the stuff you hate. It'll haunt you if you do, and make your life miserable.

Reading is useless
You can't do decent revision through sitting with a boring textbook willing the information to go into your head. It will sit stubbornly, remaining in the textbook, refusing to make the jump into your bounce.

You have to do something with the information. Take notes, underline stuff, invest in a set of highlighters and colour code everything that moves, do drawings and put pieces of information into table form. If you do something with the information it will stay in your head way better than if you just sat there reading.

Manage your time properly in the exam
This is the most vital of all techniques. The nasty spinsters who sit in drafty attics devising fresh new exam tortures are nothing if not clever. They have loads of different ways of tripping you up. The one they use most often is to make you spend way too much time on the first question. Be wary of this! Many very clever students blow their chances by spending an hour on the first question when it is only worth two marks.

Make sure you spend the most time on the questions that have the most marks. Often these are the last ones, and there is a very solid argument for looking at the paper first, seeing which questions carry the fat marks, and doing these first.

Take your time
When the examiner says, "You may turn your papers over now," everyone else in the room will try and do so at the pace an Olympic sprinter leaves the blocks. Don't do this. It puts you in a stressful state right at the beginning, and saves you exactly 0.41 seconds, (which is a useless amount of time to save). When the examiner says to turn your paper over, don't. Take a breath, count to ten, then do it. You are the one in control of your destiny. Stay calm and focused.

They will never ask you what you have never learnt
Simple as that. Unless you are studying for the wrong exam board, you will never ever get an alien question. If it feels alien then YOU haven't gone over the stuff you needed to.

There Is No Such Thing As Unrealistic Targets
Unless you are taking up a subject you have never studied, why should you limit your target? This is especially important because most times, if you enter the exam room expecting to get a C grade at most, you automatically preset your performance for just that. In a way you haven't challenged yourself. Why not get in and challenge yourself for a higher grade? In a way you are preparing yourself for over-performance. It's never harmful if there's a better chance of getting a higher grade right?

Avoid Separating Yourself From Others
More often than less, I see some students asked why others seem to get higher grades. They usually respond by labeling the performers as geniuses and boffins. While that is in some cases true, this is harmful. Geniuses and boffin as they are usually labeled are just individuals with a natural passion and inclination for academics. Therefore most of their time is spent doing thing which are directly and indirectly connected to academic work. This girl at my Secondary School was an extremely high achiever and every time I saw her she would be reading a book or just practicing her maths. Most of the "geniuses" do all their work and don't mind practicing with extension work. This means they get more practice and are more inclined to do well. A malleable mind is a desirable characteristic. However, if you aren't academically inclined, more practice will do you good.

You CAN Do It Go in that room and feel like you can manage 100%!! Seriously, with confidence your thoughts will flow freely. You will remember stuff better and you won't spend much time worrying either. Regardless of the results, the less you worry, the healthier it is. Remember this: A Coward dies a thousand deaths. A brave warrior dies only once.

Picture what you want in your mind
Picturing your grade will cement the grade in to your mind and you will usually begin to believe it's possible. Once you do that you'll naturally take inspired action. You will stop at nothing to make the grade. You don't want to let yourself down, right?

Exam criteria
One of the most important after pure revision, is knowing what you are expected to know in your exam. This is because most books have more than what you need. If you work with criteria you will be able to focus on the very important stuff and then build up from there!!!

The obvious stuff: revise, past exam papers etc Revise regularly.
This is the most important. Just revise. Read more, and you will naturally start reading more in to what you need to. If u develop it as a habit, great. Your mind is your biggest enemy. You'll procrastinate. Find way of motivating yourself. Look at beautiful cars and dream of owning them. Then realise to do so you must pass first! শিক্ষা সংক্রান্ত খবরাখবর নিয়মিত পেতে রেজিস্ট্রেশন করুন অথবা Log In করুন।

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