With exam season approaching, students across the country are getting prepared, or rather trying to, for some of the most stressful weeks of their academic lives. Having already sat my GCSEs last year and been through one of these challenging experiences myself, I will be attempting to give some advice to my peers as well as my juniors on how to deal with exam stress.

Whilst it may be GCSEs or A-levels, revision over all subjects will almost definitely be a challenge to get through considering how much content there is and how much time left till exams. Students will usually have planned out their revision timetable which at the beginning they would have promised to follow but in practice would have sometimes resulted in procrastination. The idea of falling behind schedule may become yet another reason for why a student becomes stressed as a result of exams and may lower the confidence they have in their abilities. The way to get around this problem is to have more self-assurance in what you know about your subject instead of what you think you needed revision for. For example in Biology, do not expect to revise over every detail of each of your topics by this point in time, instead concentrate on understanding the concepts behind theories and models so that you can apply your knowledge to questions in your exams- these types of questions tend to hold more marks. Remember, concentration in lessons throughout the year will ultimately pay off in the exams.

It is very important that you master your exam technique beforehand and the best way to do this is to practice past papers as regularly as possible. Although it is very helpful to do revision over the whole specification for each of your subjects, doing past papers and reviewing mark schemes is, in my opinion, more beneficial. For instance with Chemistry, even when you know all the knowledge behind each topic, if your answer does not include a phrase or a word in the mark scheme, you cannot be awarded those marks. Remember, the key to passing exams is tailoring your answers to fit exam mark schemes- this doesn’t necessarily apply to humanities subjects though. Understanding how important it is to master exam technique will hopefully improve your study strategy so that you can perform better and ultimately relieve stress.

Finally, it is important to remember that whilst exams are pivotal in determining your future, if it results in your health being negatively impacted, it is not worth stressing so much over. Try to relax during exam season, even if it means sleeping for an extra hour on a weekend or going out for a nice dinner once in a while, because relieving stress will definitely work in your favour more than you would think.

Good luck for your exams!

By Nabihah Rahman, Woodford County High School