Are exams getting the best of you?

With Simon

It is exam season again — that time of the year when stress levels are at their peak. Anxiety, exam fear, panic attacks and depression have reigned in on you so hard that you feel like a total stranger to yourself.

It is normal for tension to increase as people approach examinations because they are usually under a peculiar kind of stress referred to as distress.

This is a trying time, as you have to stay up late and wake up early to make sure you grasp (many times cram) and revise the entire syllabus or coursework. You push yourself to the edge and are worried sick about how you will perform.

While this seems normal and the only way out, the guidelines below will ensure you put in the required level of effort and manage stress as you sit your exams.

Reduce fear and anxiety

As I said earlier, exam fear, anxiety, depression and panic attacks are elements of distress. Distress is a negative stress that greatly reduces your efficiency and capabilities. Distress drains you of the much-required physical and psychological energy, thereby limiting your performance instead of enhancing it. When you are distressed, you spend so much time worrying and fearing to fail (which only drains you) while in essence, you should spend more time thinking about how you are going to conquer the upcoming exams. Do you notice a change in mindsets here?

Fear and anxiety also put you in a position of weakness both mentally and physically while what you need as you approach the exams is to be in a state of assertion, calm and confidence.

Stop studying, revise for your exams

One of the biggest mistakes most students make is to relax throughout the term or semester then start studying two weeks to the exams, which only confuses them. The right thing to do is to study throughout the semester then revise as you approach the exams. It is also important to stop trying to grasp everything about everything and concentrate on knowing everything about the little you know. For example, it does not help much if you attempt to learn new things in calculus one week to the exams because it can cause you to lose what you already knew.  What you should be doing is revising the old things.

Revise smart, not hard

It is common for many students to try and cram entire encyclopaedias in the name of revising. This doesn’t get the job done. Cramming and trying to learn new things is revising hard, which is different from studying smart.?Studying smart involves reading through your notes and textbooks and summarising them into texts that you can easily remember.

This is made much easier with the help of some magic tools we discussed earlier such as highlighter pens, post-it stickers and a peculiar pen colour like purple or green. As you read through your notes, highlight the key things that strike you, summarise paragraphs in brief notes on the post-it stickers and the margins of your text and notebooks using that peculiar pen colour.

As you sit in the exam room, it is easy to remember text that was summarised on a post-it sticker in your notebook. This leads you to contextualise it and recall more. If a question about the things you went around the class chanting to cram is asked in a different context other than what you crammed, you will not get it.

Relax, prepare and remain calm

Worrying about the exam when the exam is already here will not solve anything. It actually makes things more difficult. Put everything you need in place the night before, confirm details about the examinations so that you know when and where they will be to avoid wasting time. When you receive the exam paper, take time to read the instructions and divide your time accordingly. Tackle those questions that are within your reach first then attempt the more difficult questions thereafter. Most importantly, stay calm all through and everything is going to be alright.