How to Get Over the Exam Anxiety
Ahh, here it is again! That old familiar pressure you feel in your stomach when the exams are around the corner. While many people believe that stress, anxiety, and pressure is the triggering force that motivates you to study well for the exams, science suggests otherwise.
Whenever we’re stressed, our brains leave high levels of cortisol which can change the way we think and gets in the way of our rational thinking. Because of this, it’s extremely important to remain calm, composed and collected as you can when you’re attempting your exams.
It is easier than done.
Follow the beneficial tips below that can help with online classes and relieve anxiety and stress. These tips will also increase your productivity, help you store more information from notes, and maximize your chances of absolutely nailing your exams.
Here below are some of the best ways to manage your anxiety and stress levels and remain calm before and during your exams:
1. Prepare and Follow the Revision Timetable
Making a revision calendar and composing to-do lists each day, as stated in our step-by-step guide to becoming incredibly organized, will keep you highly prepared and on track to getting everything done – and on time.
Working out and sticking to a regular regimen is also excellent for the soul, as you’ll feel more in control of how your day unfolds. Remember to take regular breaks (at least 10 minutes every hour and a half, if not more), as these will help you stay focused.
2. Make Use of Your Time When Revising
Using your time appropriately, subjects and workload will assist you in keeping your stress levels lower. By doing this, you’ll know you’ll be able to cover everything at the right time.
If you have to appear in more than one exam, prepare a diagram and write down all the important dates of your exam and how many days you’ll require to cover all of your topics.
This will give you a clear picture of how much time you’ll need to devote to every topic and whenever you’ll be sitting for revision, so there will be no surprises because everything will be already covered.
As you’re getting your revision done, tick all the topics that you’ve covered as this will give you a sense of achievement, being aware that you’ve completed something and are just closer to reaching your end goal.
3. Before Examinations, Take A Break from Social Media
Taking a break from social media during exam season, as difficult as it may be, will reduce your stress levels significantly.
Checking the latest posts on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms while rewriting is the worst kind of procrastination because we all know how quickly time flies when you’re swiping through your feeds.
Furthermore, many of your friends will be in the same position as you and will likely be discussing how much they’re studying (or not studying). This is likely to make you even more stressed, or at the very least affect how much time you spend revising.
4. Eat Healthy and Do Exercise
Sometimes the thought of exercising during the most stressful times seems like the last thing you would like to do. I guarantee you that you will feel a lot better if you take out some time and do some exercise and go out for a run or walk. You would feel more energetic and will have the motivation to revise for an hour again.
Exercise can keep your blood flowing and your heart pumping. It’s proven to be a stress-buster as it fills your brain with endorphins, which are known as happy hormones. So, once you are not working out anymore, you can feel a lot more active and alert than you had been earlier.
You have to push yourself to leave your comfortable bed and go out to the gym, or even just go out for a walk in your nearest park.
Eating the appropriate foods during stressful times is also very recommendable for your mental health and overall wellbeing.
There is a list of some of the best foods to consume during exam time. Not only these snacks will minimize your stress, but they also increase your memory which is a win-win situation.
5. Exam Time Management Can Be Improved
Exam time management is also widespread concern among students. If you’re worried about running out of time after the exam and leaving questions unanswered, or racing through questions and finishing the exam too early, practice will be invaluable.
When practicing mock exam questions, be strict with yourself about timings so you don’t go over the time limit for the exam.
Use these sample examinations to get organized and figure out how much time you should set aside to plan responses for the online exams help, as well as how much time you should spend on each component of your answer.
If you’re having trouble finishing your answers on time or have a lot of time left over at the end, keep practicing until you’ve nailed the timings.
It’s a good idea to have your lecturer read through your practice responses to see what areas you might improve on and if any portions of your argument could be developed further. Some teachers will be more inclined to help than others, but you’ll never know unless you ask.
Remember the time when you took Chemistry Class Help because you didn’t manage your time well, don’t make that mistake again.
6. Put Your Concerns into Perspectives
This is not an easy thing to do, but try not to put so much pressure on yourself. You’re performing at your best and that’s the most appropriate thing you do! Always keep your eyes on the prize and remind yourself that one bad result is not the end of the world.
Putting too much pressure on yourself can have a very negative effect because worrying is not going to solve anything.
During times of high tension, being kind to yourself will likely motivate you to work more, so take some time away from revision to pamper yourself and catch up with your loved ones.
7. Attempt Mock Papers from Your Home
One of the most prevalent causes of exam anxiety is a lack of knowledge about what to expect on the day of the exam, such as what questions to expect and how to respond to them. What is the best method to deal with this? Practice, practice, practice.
If possible, look for old exam questions for your course to get a sense of what topics have come up in previous years.
If there aren’t any previous exam questions accessible, consider what essay/assignment titles you’ve been given by professors during the year and come up with similar questions.
It’s especially beneficial to attempt fake exam questions on topics where you’re less confident so that you can plan and practice answering them in case they appear on the real exam.
You may place yourself in a perfect position to show exam markers how much you know and ace even the most difficult exam questions by practicing how to approach your answers on a variety of topics, including your most and least favorite ones.
