Exams can be a major cause of stress if you’re a student. You may worry about your grades and future based on the outcome of an exam. Stressing out, however, will only make it harder to take the exam.So here are so tips to stay calm and perform confidently in your exams.
1- Adopt a positive attitude about school
If you’re down on yourself, you’re more likely to stress out. Instead of convincing yourself you’re doomed to failure, go into the exam with a positive mentality. Adopt a positive personal mantra to keep your mood up while you study.
- Think of something positive you can say to yourself when you feel stressed. For example, you could say something like, “I’m working hard and I will succeed.”
- When you feel stressed, repeat this mantra and you surely will feel a lot better.
2- Exercise to reduce exam-related stress
If you exercise regularly, do not neglect your work out routine during exam time. It’s okay to cut out 10 or 15 minutes from your regular routine if you’re low on time, but you should not stop exercising altogether because an exam is coming up. Exercise can help regulate your mood, leading to lower overall stress.
- If you don’t normally exercise, this is a good time to start. Try walking or going for a bike ride for 15 minutes a day, around 3 times a week.
3- Eat right until your exam
You may be tempted to binge eat on junk food due to stress. However, this is unlikely to make you feel more relaxed. Food has a direct effect on your mood, so make sure to eat high-quality foods leading up to your exam. This will reduce your overall stress.
- Avoid high-fat and high-sugar foods. These will only increase your stress levels. Instead, go for plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains.
- Avoid caffeine. Drinking coffee, tea, energy drinks, and other highly-caffeinated beverages can actually make you more anxious or nervous before an exam, which leads to poor performance.
4- Get enough sleep to keep you energized for your exam. Not sleeping right can affect your mood, leading to an excess of stress. In the weeks leading up to the exam, make sleep a priority. Strive for solid nights of high-quality sleep.
- You should sleep 8 hours A day. But in exams you can reduce these hours to 6. So atleast 6 hours sleep is sufficient for you to feel better during exams.
- Make sure you establish a regular bedtime. Go to sleep around the same time each night.
5- Have a perspective regarding your exam
If you’re stressed out over an exam, you may be placing too much importance on it. It’s good to be conscientious of your grades, and you should care about doing well in school. However, try to keep things in perspective. One exam is not going to make or break your life. Do your best, but keep in mind even the worse case scenario will not be a disaster.
- The worst thing that can happen is you will do bad on the exam. This can be a setback for you academically, but keep in mind everyone screws up an exam at least once in their life.
- Even if you don’t do well in an exam, then don’t worry just try to be positive and work harder next time.
