How to Reduce Exam Stress through 6 Easy Ways
Any student who wants to be a successful person undergoes exam stress. Examinations are an important component of the education system. When preparing for their exams, students often feel pressure. This unnecessary pressure leads to anxiety, and this stress can meddle with a student’s daily routine. Too much stress can make a student perform badly in exams.
Several factors exist that may cause stress among students:
• Peer to peer competition – In this competitive world, there exists stiff competition amongst students regarding academics. It leads to a lot of pressure that in turn brings about stress. This majorly occurs in average and below average students as they try to compete with the top students in class.
• High parental expectations – Many parents expect their children to pass all exams with flying colors. However, all students are not equally gifted, and this reduces their ability to perform admirably in their exams. High parental expectations can lead to stress for most students because of the pressure of trying to please their parents despite their limited capabilities.
• Most students cannot handle academic pressure – Some students select courses of study based mostly on their grades, guidance from their parents or guardians, and also peer pressure. They rarely base these decisions solely on their abilities and skills. Eventually, they end up not performing well in exams simply because it’s not their field with regards to their capabilities.
• Inadequate planning and preparation – This is one of the key factors that can bring about exam stress. It’s not common to see students begin their preparation for exams immediately after they get their exam timetables.
Some students know how to deal with stress while others can’t handle stress come exams time. For those who can’t, the following are the six easy ways that can be used to minimize exam stress:
1. Meditation
Meditation is a fantastic way of relieving stress. Doing it on a daily basis is great for your well-being. It helps in focusing. It also helps in getting rid of unnecessary thoughts. When meditating, make sure to keep your face upwards and your palms should be kept open on your lap facing upwards. Do this for around ten to fifteen minutes every morning and it will improve your concentration and memory. Whenever you revise, knowledge will stick to your mind, and you will be able to remember it during exams.
2. Rewrite Notes after Every Lesson
It may not look like a big help with your examinations, but rewriting your notes makes the knowledge stay in your head for a long time. With this, you don’t have to revise thoroughly when your exams are around the corner. You should rewrite notes in such a manner so they are clearer and more professional. You can even include things that were not covered by the teacher. By doing so, you will learn more and if your rewritten notes are made correctly, then you can use them for revision purposes when exams are near. For them to be effective, the notes need to be rewritten the same day you had the class. It may not be easy the first time, but once you get used to it, it will be smooth sailing from there on, and it will help you improve your academic performance.
3. Have a Study Plan in Place
It might not really be a surprise for some people but the number of students who don’t understand the advantages of having a personal study plan is huge! A study plan will enable you to tackle each subject you take in an organized manner. Depending on the amount of time you have, you can, for example, assign an hour or two a day for each subject you take. If you put in more effort, you will become more productive, and when the exams come, you won’t feel stressed at all.
4. Get Enough Sleep
The advantages of a good night’s sleep should never be underestimated. Sleep assists your brain in absorbing new knowledge into the long-term memory so that you can remember it when exam time comes. On the other hand, it’s advisable not to stay awake studying the night before an exam since your brain needs enough rest. Moreover, you can also come up with a sleeping routine, say a month before the exams begin. In this routine, you need to go to sleep and wake up at the same time for your body to get used to it. For example, you can train yourself to go to sleep at 11.00 pm and wake up at 6.00 am so that you can adequately prepare yourself.
5. Complete Your Assignments before the Deadlines
Students that perform excellently in their exams are those that hand in their class assignments way before the set deadline. Thus, they have more time at their disposal for revision. Furthermore, the teacher might go through their work early and even return it to them for the students to make the necessary corrections (if there are any).
6. Take as Many Practice Tests as Possible
Most students feel high levels of stress during their examinations simply because they are not used to taking exams. For the stress level to reduce, you need to do various tests way before the final exams to get a feel of how it will look like. Whenever you get free time, go through past papers and try to answer the questions. When it comes to issues on writing essay-type examination, you can visit various websites that have practice essays. You have to time yourself when doing these tests and complete them on a regular basis. This will eventually make you a better exam taker and doubts about your performance will eventually disappear. When exam time comes, you’ll be ready and also less stressed.
Conclusion
There you have it. These are just but some of the ways how you can reduce stress levels during exams. Feel free to share them with your fellow students. Are there any other that you know of?
Bio:
Christina Battons is a web content writer and blogger from LA. I am a graduate of the University of Southern California. Currently, I write for various blogs. I am interested in topics about education, writing, blogging, motivation, etc. My writing I use as a tool to further the education of others. You can connect with me through Twitter or Facebook. I’ll be happy to hear you, just drop me a line!