I was wondering why students have an increase in stress levels during exam times, to find out what others think I decided to ask some of my teachers and fellow pupils on the matter.

Overall some of the students thought one of the main reasons for the increase of stress is due to pressure from our peers, due to the exposure of increase in house prices or how it’s hard to land a job, these reasons make students believe that if we don’t do well now it will make the future harder. In today’s society intelligence has ’increased’ in a way, making the pressure to succeed increase along side it, creating a “hostile and pressure ridden society”.

Many times before a test you hear students talking about “revising until two” which sometimes makes fellow peers think that they aren’t revising as much, but revising that late into the night is bad for the health and won’t be beneficial. One student mentioned how parents or schools often say you shouldn’t stress over exams too much, however they contradict themselves by giving frequent tests and making it apparent that we do well, ultimately confusing pupils.

I asked one of my teachers for her views, in order to see whether there was a difference in opinions. She mentioned how there is, a drive to succeed and wanting to do well but also a fear of failure. A small percentage of people in our school leave revising or asking questions to the last minute, those that do, make the process of examinations more stressful on themselves. She mentions how many teachers try to make it so students feel free to ask questions and get answers wrong, this allows more room for improvement before the exams start. 

Ultimately in order to help decrease the stress that young people face while taking exams, we should revise more often throughout the year, reducing the pressure or chance of forgetting facts during tests. Although adults should be more mindful that students worry that if they don’t do well now, they won’t do well in the future.

Good luck to anyone with upcoming exams, be confident in your skills, and if you don’t do as well as you planned it won’t drastically change your future, if you work hard you will do fine.