Recently, I went to visit my cousin and saw a very familiar scene. He was trying to cram up his entire syllabus in one night with what looked like an entire flask of coffee on his table. His lost thoughts, troublesome expressions, and stressed out situation made me wonder how every child goes through exam anxiety and how this can impact their mental and emotional wellbeing. Two-thirds of young people are now experiencing “worrying levels” of exam stress, a study by youth service ReachOut has found.
This reminded me of how I used to do the same thing a few years ago and every time I came out of the examination hall I used to say “the test was easy if only I had revised few times.” After writing numerous semester and entrance exams I’ve cracked the secret.
Tips to deal with Exam Anxiety
Accepting the Monster
First and foremost it is very important to understand that it’s very natural to feel anxious when we have a big deadline coming up but feeling anxious about your anxiety makes it worse.
Making an alliance with the monster
The second step is to know that you can use the monster for good. Just the way eustress works you can make anxiety drive you to be more prepared.
Let’s plan
We all have heard failing to plan is planning to fail. Let your advance worrying become advance thinking and planning. Break down the entire task or syllabus into smaller chunks and complete the syllabus well in time. And every time you finish a chunk reward yourself, this will motivate you more. Bonus point you’ll have all the time to revise and prepare better.
Sticking to a routine
The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine. If 10% of the way to success is planning then 90% of it is sticking to a routine. Sticking to a routine makes exam anxiety take a back seat and makes you feel a lot more confident.
Take good care of yourself
Taking breaks between tasks, getting a good night’s sleep (8hrs), eating healthy and keeping yourself hydrated is a crucial part of this process. Your brain just like any other organ works amazingly well when pampered. Try Wysa to manage your anxiety and stress.
Time to rock and roll
If you’ve followed all the previous steps, exam anxiety would be crying right now in defeat and happiness. But remember the last step includes getting all the essentials ready and showing up on time. Going inside the examination hall or for an interview with a calm and confident mindset can do wonders!
Using Anxiety Management Tools
There are many apps that would help you beat exam anxiety and stress. You can try Wysa out as it offers some amazing self-help exercises, meditations, and focus exercises to help you cope with exam anxiety.
And just so you know most of your friends who say they haven’t even started are lying.
All the best!
