How to Stay Calm During an Exam

There is lots of advice and help out there for anxiety before your exam, but what about during your exam when you can’t go for a run, take a break to do something you enjoy or talk to someone? Don’t let exam anxiety get the best of you and try these tips to help you stay calm during your exams and ace your IGCSEs!

Breathe

This one might sound obvious and silly but taking a moment to slow down your breathing actually has a physical impact on your body. Copying a relaxed way of breathing can lower your blood pressure and heart rate, reduce the levels of stress hormones in your blood and increase your feeling of calmness. Essentially, breathing slower and more calmly tricks your body into becoming calmer. 

You can try breathing in for 4 seconds, holding your breath for 4 seconds and breathing out for 4 seconds or breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. 

Pace Yourself

It can seem like a good idea to get through an exam as quickly as possible so you have time to answer all the questions but rushing can actually have a negative effect. Rushing through questions can lead to you misreading questions and making silly mistakes. It can also increase your heart rate and make you feel more anxiety and stress.

If you notice yourself rushing, purposely slow yourself down and take a few extra seconds to read the questions carefully. 

Don’t Get Stuck

We’ve all had that experience where someone asks you a question and your mind goes blank. The same can happen in exams when reading questions, but the trick is to not dwell on it. If you come across a question and you can’t remember any answers it’s ok to skip that question and come back to it later, either when you remember something or after you’ve finished the other questions.

Staying on a question you’re struggling to answer not only uses up time, but can increase your feelings of panic and stress.

Only Focus on Yourself

It’s easy to start wondering what everyone else is doing during an exam, especially if they are all scribbling away and you’re stuck or don’t know where to start. Don’t let yourself focus on other people though. What they are doing doesn’t matter and comparing yourself to others can stress you out.

If you feel your mind wondering, pull it back to yourself and what you are doing.

Think Positively

Or at least don’t think negatively. Negative thoughts actually divert energy away from your prefrontal cortex (the part of your brain that deals with cognitive function and organisation) and increase physical symptoms of stress. If you start to have negative thoughts try to reframe them into a positive light. For example, instead of thinking, “I don’t know anything, I’m going to fail.” try “I do know the answers and I’m going to do my best.”

If positive thinking seems like too big of a leap, you can try neutral thinking instead. For the above example, neutral thinking would be along the lines of  “I've studied and will answer as much as I can.” 

Annotate Your Question Paper

It’s your question paper and you’re allowed to write on it. Underline key parts of the question to remind yourself of what to include in your answer and add notes or working outs at the side. Annotating can not only help when you’re answering the question but also encourage you to read the questions carefully. 

This is a great way of breaking down a question, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed and unsure of what a question is asking.

Check in With Your Body

Our bodies can react to stress and worry by tensing up. If you’re getting stressed during your exam check in with how your body is feeling. If your body is tense, make a conscious effort to relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw, adjust your posture and stretch your arms if you can.

Relaxing your body and releasing tension can not only help physically to prevent headaches and reduce stress hormones, but can also help release psychological tension.

The next time you’re in an exam and start to panic, try some of these tips to calm you down and get you back on track! And remember that exam results don’t define you, even if it feels like they do at the moment. For more tips on dealing with exam stress and anxiety you can visit Young Minds, Mind, Calm and Place2Be.