Here are a few simple guidelines for having Stress Free Exams. To manage exam stress the student should do the following:
Have a regular exercise regime, (pre-exams in not the time to spend hours and hours in the gym) the regime should be brief and not very strenuous, a good idea is to do 20-30 minutes of stretching exercises, push-ups, sit-ups, planks etc
Set aside time to relax, i.e. watch TV, Facebook, etc., give yourself targets, once I have studied Maths for 90 minutes, I will Facebook for 10 minutes. The relaxation should be about 10% of the time. So if you study for 3 hours at a stretch, take 15-20 minutes break.
Sleep well, don’t shortchange your body on the sleep you require, during the exam period 6-7 hours of sleep is mandatory
Eat, and eat healthy, a pizza is not a bad reward, but your diet should consist of nutritious and healthy food
Avoid comparing yourself to your friends, specially the number of hours he/she is studying
Quit habits that come in the way of concentrating on your studies, this is not the time to indulge yourself
Don’t do any exam post-mortem, analyzing how you did on the exam is not going to fix anything
Something that both the parent and student need to remember is that these exams or their results do not define who the student is as a human being. The exams are only for a brief period and will come and go away soon enough. American Basketball player Kobe Bryant said “Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.”
I agree with motivational speaker Ben Caron, that no matter how good you are at planning (or preparing for examinations), the pressure (to excel in the exams) never goes away. So one should not fight the pressure, instead, feed off this pressure and turn the pressure into motivation to do your best.
