Feeling the exam stress? You're not alone!

ella

This thread is for everyone facing upcoming exams. Feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or just completely fried?

Let's vent, share tips, and support each other through this together!

lunarcat522

Thank you @ella for this thread! I have an exam next week which I'm feeling pretty nervous about (3h 45m) but I've been chipping away at revision so I'm sure I'll get there!

I use a variety of methods - when I can't be bothered I type what I need to know on a word doc and get it to read what I've written, I also usually write things down and see what parts I have remembered and forgotten, practice questions are also good with and without notes for structuring and understanding how to answer the question, on occasion I will use flashcards and I also use the pomodoro method quite often.

I love this channel for timers as it's quite wholesome! https://youtube.com/@PomodoroCat

I've also found it's good to check in with friends whether they have exams or anything else going on in their life because I feel like social life can be lost in the midst of revision in the run up to exams. It's always nice to know people who are in the same boat. I personally try to avoid things like group chats for classes (muting them) as I find you can get caught up in other people's stress.

I've planned to go out with some friends after exams as a nice meet up and celebration (exams are rough!)

kaii

@ella, thank you so much for creating this thread! Good luck to everyone who has exams coming up! You can do this, I believe in you!

I don't have exams this year but a technique that has really helped me was testing yourself - it can be doing something like past papers or answering your own made-up questions to check your understanding! It helps your answers fit what the mark scheme is looking for. You can do this even if you haven't done a lot of revision - it sounds crazy, but you'll find that you might know more than what you thought! And if you're confident with what you've answered, but find that you got it wrong, you'll most likely benefit from the hypercorrection effect!

Also blurting is one of my favourite revision methods too - it involves brain dumping everything you know about a topic! It's effective to do this with a time limit. But I think I'd recommend this method once you've done all your revision and start questioning whether you know a lot.

And pomodoro is such a good method @lunarcat522! It's extremely beneficial for those who feel overwhelmed when doing revision, to the point where people stop taking breaks! 25 minutes might feel like a short amount of time to get revision done, but when using this method, you may feel surprised by how much revision you've done, and how much info is retained in your brain!

But what has worked for me might not work for everyone else since we're all different

It's easy to neglect self-care during this stressful period. Please make sure to get plenty of sleep and rest before and after an exam! And talking to trusted people/writing about about how nervous you feel before/after an exam may help take the weight off your chest. I also think that after an exam, it might help to not compare your answers to what everyone else got - if you find that you got something different, you might feel even more stressed, and it will be hard to move on from that exam. It can be easy to dwell on mistakes or questions that you hated - even though it might feel like you didn't do well in one exam, you still have plenty of chances to do better in the upcoming ones!

And once exam season is over, give yourself a reward because you deserve it for trying your best!

Rose113

i have exams starting next week :')

• Math paper 1 (May 16th
• English paper 1 (May 23rd)
• Math paper 2 (June 3rd)
• English paper 2 (June 6th)
• Math paper 3 (June 10th)

then at some point i have employability and customer service exams

lunarcat522

Good luck @Rose113 ! Hope they go well

ebyrne556

Thinking of everyone doing exams this month u can do it make sure you take some time to look after yourself during the next few months as I know it can be really difficult to balance things! We are all here for you

lunarcat522

That's me finished my exams from today! Was a lot of stress due to various reasons but things worked out and now glad it's over and can relax a bit.

I've not been as involved on here as I'd like to be but now I can be on here more and dedicate more attention on here.

Hope everyone is doing alright in exam season

Amy22

Also good luck to everyone doing exams this month or have ones upcoming. I know how stressful it can be juggling revision over multiple topics and subjects. If I had one piece of advice for you all I'd say never forget to check in with yourself to see how you are feeling as I know sometimes the thought of doing an exam can be quite frightening in itself even the word too for some. Id also say make sure you time to do and practice self-care as well as staying hydrated.

Im also here too if anyone needs some tips or help with anything in particular .

Sending hugs, and special good luck,

Amy22