Exam Stress

Exam stress. Everyone goes through it whether they want to or not (and whether they realise it or not) and it can make the weeks leading up to those few hours absolute hell. Maybe you’re one of those people that stresses out loads before the exam, only to be deadly calm when sat behind the desk, or maybe you’re someone who seems entirely unbothered right until your legs start quaking under the table. However you stress, it’s fine- it’s a completely natural response to can be entirely terrifying.

The standard advice for stress is to make sure you’re spending time away from the sources of your stress, getting exercise, eating and drinking healthily, socialising and seeing the GP if it gets a bit too overwhelming. Those are the basics, but there’s ways to make even those steps even easier. Combine time away from studying with getting a healthy meal and seeing friends. Socialise while you exercise (or if you’re ungraceful at exercise like me, run home from wherever you go to socialise so that nobody sees your red face!).  If you struggle to eat healthily around exams, don’t beat yourself up about it. Make it easier for yourself and set time aside at the beginning of the week to prepare healthy (but still enjoyable, you need that in times of stress) meals. Vegetable fajitas are a good one, as are soups and veggies with dip.

Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t maintain a routine around studying. Maybe you tend to go to an exercise class once a week or you’re found in the cinema every Friday. These things are important to keep up but they’re not the be all and end all- but then neither are exams. The key is to strike a healthy balance between working and looking after yourself. If you think of your brain like a sponge, it’s not likely to absorb any more water if you’ve been soaking it for three hours. Go out, get some air, watch TV or chat to a friend and let all that information soak in so that you’re ready to absorb more later on. You might think you need to spend hours on end in front of your notes, but once it starts to become ineffective because you’re overwhelmed, you’re just wasting time you could be spending catching up on Agents of SHIELD. See revision as that perfect time to also perfect your nap technique. Sleep helps you consolidate your learning- so snuggle up with that duvet, it’s all part of the process.

A lot of stress can come from feelings of not being in control. This can be overcome with good organisation and planning- if by the exam you know you’ve done everything you need to, you’re bound to feel more relaxed. Work out how long you have until your exams and use these dates to plan in a deadline. Spread your revision out over those days and it’ll seem like much less work than if you cram it all in last minute. Break your exams down- where are the marks allocated? There’s no point revising something you don’t understand if it’s worth two marks and you could be nailing those two marks if you revise something you do know. You can’t learn everything, much as we’d all like to. Split your revision up by topic and try and do different topics each day- that way if you’re struggling with something, it’s only a matter of time before you can move onto something else that you do understand.

Make use of your lecturers, classmates and tutors. They’re at university to help you learn or to learn themselves, and teaching is one of the best methods to do so- so ask them to teach you. It might just be that hearing it said in someone else’s voice is enough to get it stuck in your head. Perhaps they have a memorable accent or like to make it into funny songs. Maybe they have a really random way of thinking that just suits you better- whatever it is, it’s worth finding out if they can help.

Don’t set yourself ridiculous amounts of work and cut out all fun things. Nobody can work for ten hours a day no matter what they claim- and the people who sit in libraries for ten hours just keep those seats warm for a really long time and don’t actually achieve that much. They also terrify those of us who are actually get stuff done, which is entirely unproductive because hey, we’re getting stuff done. Then again, if you actually can work for ten hours solid, well done you- but go for a swim afterwards or watch a movie because your brain will need a rest. Nobody is impervious to burnout, not even the medics who basically live in the library.

And finally, remember these (and I’m a medic, so I can’t lie):

-          Exams aren’t everything. Retakes are a thing, employers won’t look at your marks, and grades don’t define who you are. Maybe you’re an excellent pianist, but you can’t see that on a biology paper. Perhaps you’re an amazing volunteer or the kindest person to have ever walked the Earth, but that won’t show up on a maths test.

-          Think about how far you’ve come. You’re at university! You have a 100% success rate for days lived! You have made it through those awkward teenage years! You’re living in an age where your tweets will never be as weird as Kanye West’s!

You got this.

LOVE KATIE XOXOXOXOXO