5 Efficient Tips For Students to Beat Exam Stress

Students face too much stress these days, state worried politicians. Not only they deal with many new tasks they have never dealt before when under their parents’ roof, but also constantly feel how the burden of all the responsibility grows heavier every day.

The Mental Health provides information where it states that “the ChildLine National Exam Stress Survey revealed that 96% of 1300 who completed the survey felt anxious about exams and revision, with 59% feeling pressure from their parents to do well and 64% saying they have never received any support in dealing with exams.”

The levels of anxiety among students is growing year after year. That is why, trying to help you cope with stress, we have decided to create a list of effective tips that might help you go through this easier.

So, meet our 5 recommendations to stick to when facing the exams.

5 tips on how to deal with exam stress and not go crazy

Take good care of your health.

It might sound like something your grandma would tell you. But you know what? She would be completely right!

No matter what you are working on,  writing a cause and effect essay or completing a term project before the exam, do not sacrifice sufficient sleep to studying, as you need to be able to think clearly to do your best, and it is not possible with a brain that only wishes for a few more hours of sleep.

Besides, you need to exercise during this time. Even if you are not that much into sports, before exams you must join the gym or find a jogging buddy. The thing is that when you exercise, you stimulate the growth of new neuron cells in your brain – and that translates into a huge boost of creativity.

Finally, eat healthy food. No energy drinks or fast food. To prevent stress, you need to get some fresh juice and healthy snacks. Call your grandma if you already forgot what “healthy food” means.

Take breaks.

Taking a break is vital. It is especially true if you believe that the longer you work, the more productive you are.

Open Buffer states that if you work for too long on some project, you are more likely to get bored and lose your focus.

Besides, here is a piece of information that will definitely encourage you:

“Activity in many brain regions increases when our minds wander. Your mind solves its stickiest problems while daydreaming—something you may have experienced while driving or taking a shower. Breakthroughs that seem to come out of nowhere are often the product of diffuse mode thinking.”

So, make sure to take breaks and change activities: maybe that is when you will that final push you needed so badly to complete an assignment.

Choose a proper location.

No matter what they say and how focused on the task you can stay, your surroundings matter, so pay attention to them.

You need to find a quiet place you will have no distractions at. For instance, college library is perfect for such occasions. And you get the access to all the essential materials needed to prepare for an exam. However, if studying at a library is way too “cliché” for you, then find a quiet café in the neighborhood, take your headphones to block the noise and listen to some lounge beats – and study there.

You can also study at home, as long as your neighbors keep it down. Opt for a gadget-free desk, put all the notes, books, and materials needed for an upcoming exam within the reach and dive into studying.

Make sure that everything that surrounds you motivates you to study.

Have a plan.

You need to split the huge chunk of work into manageable “chewable” pieces and set deadlines for each one of them. This way, you will know exactly how much time you have to complete it and it will keep you accountable.

If you have to prepare for several exams at once, set separate time for each one of them. Thus, you can divide your evening into three sections and focus on different subjects during each one of those parts.

According to the FCE Exam Tips, having a plan makes you more efficient along the way, and it gives you motivation, as you see the progress in what you are ding daily.

Avoid procrastination.

Procrastination is your biggest enemy in this battle. You lose so much time checking your email, social media news feed, chit-chatting with friends, that end up hurting the possible positive results of studying by the end of the day.

So, to prevent you from regretting, make sure you have a gadget-free desk and you smartphone is nowhere within the reach.

Moreover, log out of your social media and establish a rule on how much time you get to spend online daily in order to keep in touch with your friends but without hindering your academic performance. The bad thing is that once you start running out of time, you become worried and anxious that you will never make it on time.

So, to save you some hassle and nerve, avoid procrastination from the beginning, and get more things done timely.

Huffington Post has recently posted an excellent article about different apps and methods to help you beat procrastination. Among them are SelfControl, Freedom, and HeyFocus which block your social media feed for a specified time period.

Moreover, they talk about Procraster and Focuswriter that can be of much help to students as well.

If you are feeling worried and anxious about upcoming exams, then these tips can help you big time. Remember that stress only harms your academic performance. So, leave it behind and do your best when striving to boost productivity and learn all the material needed on time.

And a question to those who have already learned their own ways to beat anxiety before exams: how do you deal with stress? Our facts are science-based, while you might have some real-life examples. Do share with us in the “Comments” section.

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