Coping With Exam Stress
Hello!
Goodness me, it's been a little while and a couple of you may have wondered for a fleeting second where I've been - although I highly doubt that as I'm not a very important person! I have been up to my eyeballs in revision, exams, and choir committee duties so I decided that I'd just do one blog a week rather than two for a little while which surprisingly has cut the work down quite a lot! Anyway, I'm all done and dusted with my exams, I'm about to move out of my hole of a flat (psyched!) and I have my last concert with EUMS this evening but I still have a free afternoon to chat to you lot. Can I just mention that I've managed to actually blow dry my hair to a competent degree so I may actually look decent in the pictures! I mean, I hate my haircut at the moment as it got totally butchered by someone who doesn't normally cut my hair so if you don't want to cry at your mum for about half an hour after your hair appointment, request your usual hairdresser - pro tip! But there will soon be a significant change to my mop *gasp* so stay tuned! Anyway, enough about my hair, I'm not a beauty blog! Today I want to talk you through how I managed to stay calm during exams and general exam period.
I've been working for days but I'm not sure I've done enough revision!
If you have been working hard on a topic for a good few days then chances are, you've done enough. With university exams, you are usually given big clues on what you will be asked. They don't want to fail you! Go back to your revision lecture, work out what the exam structure is, and then choose topics to revise. For example, if you've got two hours to answer two questions and there are 6 questions in total about 6 topics you covered, you really don't need to learn all six. Learn 2 topics really well and then skim learn a third as a back up just in case one of your chosen topics is truly revolting! Obviously, my subjects have been in humanities and social science so I can't really speak for science based/maths based subjects BUT I did go out with someone who's now studying maths at Cambridge and he did pretty damn well by doing past papers so I'm going to guess that that's a good technique? Use your resources, don't just try and guess, and if you're really stuck, email your tutors!! Done all this? You've done enough work.
You are not a machine, take breaks!
I get it, if you're working in the library it can feel like everyone's going to judge you if you so much as consider leaving your desk. I promise you, they won't. It's so unhealthy (and completely pointless) to force yourself to work to exhaustion. Go home in the evening and stop working. If you've worked all day, you don't need to work in the evening. The way I worked was to start at 9:30ish and leave at about 5pm and I would have a break in the morning for 20 minutes, an hour for lunch and about 30 minutes in the afternoon. Trust me, the world did not implode and I managed to get all my work done. But honestly, my number one rule is to never work in the evenings.
Night before exam: what to do.
Ok, you've done all your work, the exam is tomorrow and you're feeling a little nervous. What do you do? Check your exam time and location one more time. There is nothing worse than being unsure about where your exam is or turning up at the wrong time. Write it down, and make sure you know how to get to your exam location. If you're at Edinburgh, if it says "something Land" it's probably down at the Holyrood campus. Next, make sure you have enough pens or whatever stationery you need for your exam and pack them in your bag ready. Make sure you know where your student card is (again, this is Edinburgh specific, I don't know about other universities) and put it in your pencil case so you know you've got it with you. Find a water bottle. Obviously fill it up in the morning but make sure you have one. If you know you're going to feel so nervous you can't think straight in the morning, maybe lay out the clothes you're going to wear the next day so you don't have to think about it. Make sure you get a good meal inside you, do something to relax like watching your favourite comfort film or reading your favourite comfort book and get an early night. If you want to, have a final read of your notes but if you start panicking that it's not going in, stop. You're not stupid, you're just too tired so get some rest.
Morning of exam: what to do
On the morning of your exam, especially if it is a morning exam, I would advise waking up about half an hour earlier than you normally would. Giving yourself plenty of time to get ready without any rushing is the best way to stay calm. Try and have breakfast. I know it's difficult if you're nervous, but try to at least have an apple and some water to keep you going. Fill up your water bottle, double check you have everything you need, and I always find that listening to some motivational music on the way to the exam hall really helps. You know how Olympic athletes always seem to have their own personal "pump up" song to get them in the zone? Find yours for exams, it's exactly the same! I'll share mine as today's track.
Get to the exam early. They usually let you in about 15 minutes before it's due to start so get there in plenty of time. Remember, rush = stress. In the exam, read the questions at least twice. Try not to panic if you don't understand one, you can come back to it later. Trust me, markers don't care what order you answer questions in!
Also, do not be that person that asks everyone else what they learnt etc before the exam or tell everyone that you're going to fail. It's not fair to induce stress in everyone else, just chill out and ask your friends how things have been going in general. Normal chit chat is best here. And, I also hate it when people decide to go through the exam at the end. Don't do it, there's nothing you can do then, just go about your day normally, ok?
I think that's about it for today, good luck in your exams, I hope this helped!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
