Exam Anxiety: Manage Stress & Perform Your Best

The time of the year has come where students are sitting for their end-of-school year exams and some for the very stressful University entrance exams. Stress, despite its bad reputation, can actually help you perform well. The problem starts when it becomes overwhelming and you lose control. It will help to remember that the goal isn’t to eliminate stress altogether but to be able to function when stress is present. A ‘adrenaline rush’ doesn’t necessarily mean panic mode is imminent. It simply means your body and brain are gearing up to face a goal you really want to accomplish. Think of stress as your body mobilising energy to help you succeed something that is important to you. When you change how you view stress, you also change how you experience it.

Following are some tips that could help throughout this highly stressful period.

During Exam Prep Season

• Learn some form of self-regulation technique (such as relaxation exercises, hypnosis, or mindfulness) that you can also use during exams. Practice them during the exam period so that when the time comes, you can utilize them without much thought.  
• Don’t forget to engage in fun activities that helps you decompress and feel calmer. Don’t neglect the other parts of your life. You can’t – and shouldn’t – sacrifice everything. Taking time to be with friends and for other activities won’t ruin your study schedule. In fact, the opposite is true: it often improves your performance and helps you study more efficiently. Pleasant activities, even less frequently or for shorter periods, provide the mental break you need in order to return to studying more focused. If you deprive yourself of all sources of enjoyment, concentration becomes harder and mental fatigue eventually kicks in.
• Exercise regularly and choose a type of physical activity you genuinely enjoy. If necessary, consider taking a multivitamin, as prolonged stress during exams can weaken the immune system.
• Plan your day, every day. Organising both your time and study material is helpful. It’s usually best to start with the subjects you find the hardest or least enjoyable.
• During study breaks, avoid your phone and social media. Instead, go for a short walk, drink some water, stretch, spend a few minutes outside, or simply rest without a screen. These activities genuinely help your nervous system recover. Scrolling is really just swapping one form of stimulation for another — it’s not proper rest. Plus, when you return to studying, part of your mind often stays stuck on whatever you were just looking at online.
• Many students study lying on their bed, listening to music, snacking, and without time pressure. But exams happen in a completely different environment: silence, time limits, uncomfortable chairs. That’s why it’s important to sometimes study under exam-like conditions: sitting at a desk, using a timer, and without notes. Don’t train your brain to remember information only when you’re comfortable. Train it to recall information in the same conditions you’ll face during the exam.
• The brain learns more effectively when it actively tries to retrieve information, rather than simply rereading notes. That’s why techniques such as self-testing, explaining the material out loud as if you’re teaching someone else, or practising with past exam papers can be so effective.
• Don’t rely on substances that promise energy boosts. They always come with a cost.
• Learn to speak to yourself in an encouraging way. Positive self-talk can give you the push you need to achieve your goals. Those involved in sport already know that athletes motivate themselves the same way a coach motivates them. Become your own coach and adopt the mindset of an athlete competing in an important event.
• If you find that, despite your efforts, you still can’t manage the pressure, seek help from a professional. It can be very helpful to begin practising self-regulation techniques ahead of time with a psychologist, at school and while studying at home. That way, by the time exams arrive, you’ll already know what works best for you. It’ll also feel more natural and automatic because of the practice you’ve already put in.

Just Before The Exams

• Make a checklist of everything you need to bring with you. Never underestimate the power of a checklist — they genuinely save lives. Since checklists were introduced in operating theatres, medical errors and preventable deaths dropped significantly. If they help surgeons, they’ll definitely help you.
• Don’t arrive at the exam venue too early or too late. Avoid conversations with highly stressed people or with anyone who makes you doubt your preparation. Save those chats for afterwards.

During the Exam

• Before reading the questions, do your relaxation exercise or anything else that helps you settle and focus calmly. You want to start the exam at a manageable stress level, leaving room for some increase in pressure without it affecting your performance. Ideally, you’ll already have practised calming yourself beforehand and you know what works for you and can do it naturally when you need it.
• Read each question twice and make sure you fully understand it before answering.
• Start with the questions you know best or find easiest. Some students jot down key words next to every question first, so that even if they momentarily freeze up, those key words act as prompts before they begin expanding their answers. Everyone works differently, so pay attention to what has helped or hindered you in past exams.
• Drink water during the exam and chew gum if it helps you. Chewing gum can assist with releasing excess nervous energy and improving concentration and performance. For even better results, chew the same flavour gum while studying and during the exam itself.
• The more familiar elements you can bring from your study environment into the exam room, such as the same chewing gum, similar clothes, familiar scents, even similar posture, the more it can help memory retrieval and performance.
• Quietly narrate to yourself what you’re doing as you do it, or tell yourself what you’re about to do immediately beforehand. For example: “Now I need to answer question X, so I’ll start by writing…” or “Now I’m reading the second question…” or “I’ve finished this section, so next I’ll…”. This simple habit helps keep you focused and grounded during the exam. By mentally describing your actions in real time, you occupy your brain with purposeful thoughts instead of letting it fill with negative ones. Your mind can’t fully follow two different directions at once. Thus, when you intentionally fill that mental space, there’s less room for anxious thoughts.

Everyone functions differently. Notice what has already helped you in the past and keep doing it, while letting go of what doesn’t work for you. Even if you read something here or elsewhere, evaluate how effective it actually is for you personally and keep only what suits you. Don’t compare yourself to others. What helps them may not help you, and vice versa.

Since parents play an important role and they also carry their own anxieties over their children’s success, please be mindful on your impact. Pay attention to how you, as parents, handle the exam period and manage your own stress. Keep daily routines as normal as possible, offer support and encouragement, guide rather than criticise, listen before lecturing, and remember to separate your own expectations from your children’s experiences.

To all of you students out there, have a bit of faith in yourselves. Think about how many times in the past you succeeded despite the self-doubt. I wish you the best of luck! You’ve got this!