With exam season kicking off this month, it can be an extremely overwhelming and pressured time for students. Dee France, Thrive’s Wellbeing Lead, shares her advice on handling exam stress and anxiety
It is a perfectly normal experience to feel worried and stressed when faced with impending exams or any type of performance situation.
A healthy and ordinary amount of stress can even be good for you, giving you the motivation to push through and keep you focused.
However, when worry, self-doubt, fear of failure and the pressure to perform well become too intense, they can interfere negatively with exam preparation and performance.
As feelings of stress push past optimal levels, it can have a devastating effect on our concentration, and our ability to learn, remember and demonstrate what we know.
Causes of exam anxiety
To effectively manage anxiety, it is important to understand why you are feeling this way. There are many variables that may contribute to and relate to these feelings:
- Past experience with exams;
- Poor preparation, inexperience undergoing exams and unfamiliarity with exam and study techniques;
- Poor self-care, such as bad sleep habits, unhealthy eating, lack of exercise and limited relaxation time;
- Intrusive and unhelpful thinking patterns such as saying to yourself, “I can’t do this” or “I’m going to fail”;
- Strong sense of failure; or
- Extreme pressure to achieve placed on you by yourself or others.
Tips for handling exam anxiety
How you spend your time leading up to your exams can have a huge knock-on effect on your anxiety and stress levels.
Routine
Essential to managing anxiety and stress when faced with exams is creating a study routine early in the year as opposed to haphazardly cramming a year’s worth of learning into a few days.
Design a study schedule and map out how you will spend your days.
Schedule your study time in short, succinct time blocks with a 10-minute break for every hour.
It is important to have a hard stop each evening to allow some time to unwind, and block out a day each week that is revision free.
By carving out a comprehensive and realistic schedule, you will focus better, feel in control and be less likely to procrastinate.
Being prepared will help you feel more relaxed and confident and goes a long way to easing stress levels and keeping your nerves in check.
Mind and body
When we are busy, other parts of our life can be easily neglected, and we can forget to take care of ourselves.
When it comes to managing anxiety and stress, nourishing your mind and body should not be underestimated.
It is important not to push yourself too hard or overlook your needs.
Regular exercise, eating well and sleeping properly are some of the most effective stress relievers at our disposal and are essential for being at our best physically, mentally and emotionally.
Incorporating fundamental self-care practices into your study routine can ease the pressure of trying to balance your time with other vital activities.
Relax
To relieve symptoms of anxiety and stress, practise deep breathing or other relaxation techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation or yoga to help calm the body, alter the body’s response to anxiety and release tension.
In general, relaxation techniques are about refocusing your attention and increasing awareness in the body. It is a good idea to engage in these activities when you are relaxed and practise regularly to reap the benefits.
Ask for help
If you are overwhelmed by upcoming exams, you might find it helpful to share how you are feeling.
At Thrive, we witness a spike in students contacting our services at this time of year regarding exam stress and anxiety, which is one of the most common concerns students are dealing with.
Thrive is the Institute’s dedicated well-being hub, which is freely accessible to all students.
The hub provides a wide range of services tailored to our students' well-being, such as wellness coaching and professional counselling. All services are delivered in complete confidence and are available at any stage of your journey with the Institute.
For more advice or information, check out Thrive’s dedicated
wellbeing hub.
Alternatively, you can contact the Wellbeing team by email at: thrive@charteredaccountants.ie or phone: (+353) 86 0243294
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