If you are reading this article, then you must be familiar with the feelings of stress and anxiety that comes with the exams. It is true that this is probably overwhelming and adds much of pressure, but surely, you are not alone to deal with those feelings. We all go through this before a big examination day, before speaking in public, or even trough more simple life routine.
The good news is we can easily manage the stress and use it in our favor to have a healthier exams period. Sometimes we have the right intentions, which are to succeed our exams, and for this, we try our best to learn as much as we can for the big day, but we end up causing ourselves so much damage that brings the opposite of the results we were aiming to achieve.
Do not overload your brain: The information overload is one of most negative results that can occur during revision for exams. It happens when too much information is available at once, and as a result, we can no more think clearly, or feel that we lost all the information we learned. In order for you to avoid the information overload situation, you need to make a schedule where you give equal focus to all your subjects, and remember to include breaks into your revision schedule. For example as an optimum learning strategy : Studying for 20 minutes at a time, followed by a reflection period on what you have learned ,and then a 10 minutes break is known to be so beneficial.
Sometimes no details are needed: It might be a trouble to focus on some details that you do not understand during the revision .It is good to research and find answers for your questions, but sometimes the broad understanding of the topic contains the explanation, and the responses to most of your questions. Learn to stop yourself from the negative self-talk that makes you feel like you did not get the subject as you are supposed to, this will slow you down from revising, and will prevent you from moving on with the revision of all your topics. Instead, you will find that you are consuming so much time on one topic, and fall behind on your revision program. Any negative self-Talk is due to your stress, and on those times, you have to ignore these inner voices.
Listen to your brain: If you practice sport, your body gets tired at some point, and then you need to give it a rest. Same goes for your brain , and you can tell when to do so when you see that you started wandering , and that you are forcing yourself , but still don’t seem to retain information . At this time, there would be absolutely no use for you to keep learning because your brain will not absorb the information. As a result, it will make you be more frustrated at yourself, and more stressed when in fact; this is a very normal brain reaction. You need to accept it, and manage it with total calmness.
Do not forget how to relax: In the middle of so much pressure that might come with exams, you might forget how to relax, and even relaxing might sound tiring. This is why there are many relaxation exercises, which might be of a good use for you: Breath Focus, Body Scan, Guided Imagery, Mindfulness Meditation, Yoga, tai chi, and qigong…To learn more about those relaxation exercises , check on the article “ Six relaxation techniques to reduce stress “ published on “Harvard Health Publishing” website .
Your health matters: You cannot succeed if you are sick, and we tend to make ourselves sick during the stressful life events. Your mental and physical health matters. Find a moment to enjoy yourself, to breath, and to laugh. The positivity will boost your energy, and make your thinking clearer. Skipping meals, or over eating because of stress is actually harmful and has bad effects on your productivity. A healthy performance requires a healthy brain that requires a self-care.
Do not pressure yourself not to stress: Some of us by trying to avoid the stress will end up escaping the revision, or stress even more because managing stress itself might be stressful when we have a lot to deal with. Sometimes the stress can be positive; you can turn this stressful situation into your favor, by simply thinking of it as a challenge that you are able to accomplish, and if you love challenges, you will surely find some satisfaction in it.
If you think of exams from a different angle, as you testing your potentials, and not others judging your knowledge as we all might feel, it will make you have an inner peace, less stress, and a better sleep. Your success depends on your efforts, but learning efforts alone are not enough. You need to consider working hard, but not going hard on yourself, and most importantly remember to believe in yourself because life itself is a testing field. We might fail, and we might succeed, but we will definitely learn and during the process.
