Exam time is a particularly stressful period for most students. The pressure to do well, coupled with the insane amount of tasks and studying to do can be very overwhelming. The following tips are aimed particularly at this time, but doing some of the things outlined in the Everyday Stress page can also be helpful and beneficial throughout exam time.
Dealing With Exam Stress
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Breaking Up Tasks
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Healthy Sleep Schedule
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Reaching Out
Breaking Up Tasks
For many people, procrastination can cause tasks to build up, causing stress over the mountain of work to do and so little time to do it. Planning out tasks carefully and breaking stuff up into chunks can be super helpful in managing tasks and the stress surrounding them.
Planners, Wall Calendars and Diaries
The school diary is great, but if you struggle with planning and deadlines, it’s a good idea to have multiple forms of planning. For example, having a big wall calendar that is dedicated to major events/deadlines, and then a smaller planner to figure out what you are going to do exactly each day.
Breaking it up into chunks
If you’ve already procrastinated too much and you’re starting to get really stressed out, giant tasks can seem daunting and difficult to get started. One way to manage this is to chunk one task into several smaller ones. For example, instead of “Write extended essay” on your to-do list break it up into:
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Write introduction
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Write body paragraph 1-3
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Write conclusion
You can also do this with your studies, by breaking up what you are going to do for study into exact smaller tasks. This will help you to see exactly what needs to be done and work more efficiently, helping you to lower your stress and get stuff done!
Healthy Sleep Schedules
Sleep is essential for doing everyday tasks, focusing on studying, preparing for exams, if you are a student, and most importantly for your mental and physical health.
Statistics and significance of sleep for your health: and why it is important before exams
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Sleep deprivation and lack of sleep throughout the night can affect your concentration and performance of everyday tasks. Specifically, getting less sleep affects brain functioning, which has an effect and worsens your problem-solving abilities and memory performance. Better sleep, specifically for teenagers, 7-9 hours of sleep is necessary, and can thus improve brain functioning and performance, especially when an exam is around the corner.
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Research on the benefits of good sleep before exams and preparation for exams suggests that it is important to get enough sleep between 7-9 hours of sleep for better grades in the long term period. It has also been suggested that enough sleep allows one to be more alert and can do tasks more efficiently. Napping before an exam, for around 20-30 minutes can also enhance your memory, and one can perform better in exams.
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Studies suggest that sleep improves athletic ability and performance. It has been examined that it improves reaction time, mental well-being, accuracy and speed within sports.
Ways to sleep better:
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Try to maintain regular sleep schedules throughout the week, including on weekends, so your body can get used to regular times, when to fall asleep. Irregular sleep schedules have been linked to lower academic scores.
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Your sleep environment is also important: having a colder, quieter and darker bedroom can improve the quality of your sleep, for most people.
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Electronics have some effect on your quality of sleep and your schedule. The blue lighting they emit keeps you awake longer and doesn’t allow your body to rest before sleeping. Turning off your phone 30-60 minutes before sleeping can help.
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Too much caffeine and alcohol throughout the week or day can decrease the quality of your sleep. Coffee can disrupt sleep when it is ingested up to 8 hours before sleeping.
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Exercise has physical health benefits but also enhances your sleep quality. It will give you a natural energy boost and allows your body to relax more when sleeping.
Reaching Out if Needed
Reaching out to teachers, and particularly parents can be challenging, especially when it comes to stress and mental health, and its impacts on you.
Although when you trust a parent or teacher, once you tell them how you are feeling, it can be the first step to feeling better.
It is important to explain to one how you are feeling, why it is important for them to know, and how it is affecting you. When talking to a parent or teacher, it is important for both to be calm, so there is no pressure or nervousness to talk to them.
It is important for one to know how important this is to you and that you need their support or guidance to come to a resolution or get the help you need.
Remember, you are not alone, and it can be difficult to confess or talk to one about a burden or issue.
For more resources about potential mental health problems you might be having, check out the resources page more information