Exam Stress and Revision...Our Stories

It's that time of the year again where everyone is taking exams. They may be important ones like GCSE's or A-Levels or they may just be end of year exams. Whatever exams you are taking, you are bound to be a little stressed or nervous, which is perfectly natural, and hopefully some of the points mentioned here may help you get through the coming months, and hey they seem to work for me...

The first thing that you all have to understand is that however important the exams are, it is not the end of the world if you don't do well. There are plenty of opportunities to re-take if you have failed or not done as well as you were expecting, and no one is going to think less of you if you do re-take. Failing exams and then re-taking them is not going to harm higher education or career opportunities. It is not worth getting so worked up about exams that you do something stupid, when there are plenty of other opportunities to get the grades you want if you don't get them first time round.

Having said that, if you are well prepared for your exams, you ought to have no problems with revision and then the exams themselves. You should start revising early for your exams, especially ones like GCSE's and A-Levels... it should be about 1 to 2 months in advance of your exams. However, there are some of us (including me at times!) who leave it a couple of weeks, or even the week before the exams to start revising. If you are one of these people - do not panic. There are ways of revising all the stuff you need to know without getting into a stress and ending up doing no revision at all.

You can't of course go for three hours and not have a break. That would be just stupid and you would never remember all the things that you have just been revising!

The best thing to do, is to do solid revision for 20 minutes and then have a ten minute break. If you are getting on well with what you are doing, you could always go on for 50 minutes and then have a ten minute break before your next subject - but you do need to timetable your breaks.

As for when the exam day comes along; you need to be prepared for it the day before. Check twice the day before, and before you travel to the exam that you have got all the pens, pencils, equipment, books and anything else you need for the exam. This will help to stop any unnecessary stress on the day of the exam - especially if you get there and you find you are missing something!

When you get into the exam, there is bound to be either some answer sheets or the actual question papers there - so read over any instructions that may be on the front and make sure that you are in the right seat - also, when the teachers do hand out the exam make sure you have got the right paper(s)!

If you are particularly prone to getting nervous, take some deep breaths, tell yourself that it is only an exam, that you know what you are doing and that you can pass the exam. Confidence is one of the key things that you need in the exam hall, and if you have that, as well as knowledge - you are over half way there to passing!

All that is left for me to say is good luck to you all and I hope you all do as well as you possibly can.

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