Coping with Exam Stress

Hello fellow budget hunters,

Today I am apologising for a MASSIVE delay in posting. I am currently studying for my exams in my final year of university and doing hundreds of job applications. I had scheduled some posts ahead for over Christmas, but I got distracted and it is now the 7th January and I haven’t posted since New Years!

This post is going to be a different post (I know I say this every post) but this is another Mental Health post regarding Exam Anxieties and how I have found to overcome them. I’d like to point out, I am a student with Depression but not diagnosis of anxiety, however I do struggle with exam time and I hope this helps other people. Part of me is writing this for my own interest too, so I don’t just preach and then not follow my advice. I am also not a medical professional, so don’t take all my advice…

Working towards exams can make us feel a lot of pressure, especially at uni where we’re aiming for a degree. We might not have that much choice over whether or not we actually do exams, but there are definitely things we can do to help deal with the stress we’re feeling. Here are some of my tips on dealing with exam stress!

KEEP IT IN PERSPECTIVE

– Lots of people will tell you this, because it’s true – exams aren’t everything. Whatever happens in your exams, you can still be successful in life afterwards. So if you don’t do as well as you’d hoped, try to keep things in perspective.
– Employers don’t just look at your exam scores. They’re just as interested in your attitude, your transferable skills and how well you’ll get on with other people.
– Exam success doesn’t define you as a person. There’s so much more to you and your personality than how well you can tackle a highly specific exercise that is in any case almost never a perfect gauge of your ability in that subject.
– Think about how far you’ve come already. You’ve already done incredibly well to get to uni, and stopping or failing exams at this point isn’t ‘throwing away’ your past success.
– Once you’ve done an exam, try to forget about it. There’s nothing you can do about it, and worrying won’t change your mark.

GET THAT ORGANISED FEELING
– Picture your exams as a time-bound project.
– Work out the basics: which exams you have, how the marks are allocated, and how much you have to learn for each one.
– Break your revision down into small chunks, and form a plan.
– Schedule in plenty of free time to unwind, and protect this time. After spending time in Cambridge during exam period I realised that nobody can work all day every day.
– SELF CARE and don’t panic if you go slightly off schedule – tomorrow is another day.

 

GET INTO SOME GOOD HABITS

– Take frequent breaks. Psychologists say we can only concentrate properly for 30-45 minutes.
– Eat well.
– Drink lots of water. People often underestimate how much hydration helps!
– Think about when and where you work best. Some of us aren’t morning people, and not everybody finds themselves productive in the library.
– Keep active. Even a short walk will do. Exercising is one of the quickest and most effective ways to de-stress.
– Sleep! Try to get about 8 hours’ sleep a night.
– Find activities that help you relax. Mine is watching friends or having a bath.

AVOID THESE HABITS
– Don’t set yourself ridiculous goals. Nobody can revise 10 topics in a day!
– Don’t cut out all the enjoyment from your life. You need balance.
– Avoid stimulants. Caffeine, alcohol and drugs impede your energy and concentration in the long term. (I’m a hypocrite writing this as I love coffee and drink at least one daily)
Here’s my little list of ways to cope with exams and the anxiety, however I am starting to use this post as means to procrastination – so I better get off to do some revision and stop preaching to everyone else.

We can get through January Exams together … Or Summer exams.

Love you always

The Great Ambini

x x x