Tips and ideas to beat the exam stress

At one or other time you have to write an exam and test and it can be stressful.  You prepare for it and study hard and the next morning when it is time to write the test you go into panic mode and feel that you do not know your work or you cannot remember anything you studied.

There are ways in which you can cope with this stress and make sure that writing an exam or test is something you take in your stride.

A test or exam is already pressure so do not go and put more pressure on yourself.  Do not tell yourself the whole time you will not be able to cope, you are not going to have enough time or you are going to fail.  Try and stay positive and understand that it is something that you need to do and the quicker you start, the faster you will be ready.  Do not wait until the last minute and cause yourself to go through more pressure.

A lot of people think that once they start studying, they must concentrate the whole time and may not move from their desk.  Yes, you have to concentrate, but nobody can do this for hours.  If you feel that your mind is wandering and you are getting stressed out, take a nice long break where you do something you enjoy and make you forget about your books.  But remember you can only take breaks once you have put in some effort behind your books.  You cannot study for 5 minutes and then want to go on a 2 hour break.  Try and keep a balance and see a break as an incentive for your hard work.

Make sure that you get enough rest - you and your brain so do not try and study through the night, you are not taking in any information.  Make sure you get enough sleep and is well rested before you go on studying.  Also make sure that you follow a healthy diet that will keep your body and mind healthy.

Decide on what targets you want to reach - do not set targets that are far beyond your reach and that will make you feel disappointed.  Set targets that are reachable and which will make you feel happy and confident about yourself.

It is all good and well that you have everything planned out and how you will take breaks and get enough sleep and then you go and wait until the night before to start with your revision.  You will now not have enough time to go through the work in an organised slow manner (especially if it is a lot) and once you see that your time is running out, you will start to get more stressed.  

The more stressed you get, the less you will be able to concentrate.

Do not try and stay awake through the night and consume a lot of energy drinks.  This is not going to help you and too many energy drinks are not good for you.

Find a place where you can sit and study without a lot of distractions.  You cannot keep your phone on and answer messages every 5 minutes.  Put is away and keep it as a reward during your break once you have reached your goal - nothing major is going to happen which you will miss if you do not check your phone the whole time.

If you have a very noisy family, inform them when your study time is, so that they can be more quiet and not come in to your room every now and then.

Try and sit at a desk if you study - your bed is nice and comfortable, but maybe a bit too comfortable - it is easy to lie down and rather take a nap than study.

If you want to make summaries of your work, you can use different color pens or sketches or mind maps to make it more interesting for yourself and your brain.

It is very important that you understand the work that you have to study - even if you remember something like a parrot for that moment, the chances are very good to forget it very soon.  It is easy for your brain to remember something that it understands, so if you are not sure about any of the work you need to study, ask your teacher or friend to explain it to you again.

Believe in yourself.  You can do this.

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