How to Stay Calm During an Exam

Feeling anxious during exams is normal, but if left unmanaged, it can affect your performance. While many tips focus on pre-exam stress relief, it’s equally important to learn how to stay calm during exams.

Whether you're preparing for your IGCSEs or any other test, try these practical strategies to reduce stress and stay focused during your exam.

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Tips to stay calm during exams

Practice Deep Breathing During the Exam

Taking deep, controlled breaths may sound simple, but it can significantly reduce your stress response. Controlled breathing lowers blood pressure, reduces cortisol (the stress hormone), and helps you feel grounded.

Try the “4-4-4” method:

• Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds

• Hold your breath for 4 seconds

• Exhale slowly through your mouth for 4 seconds

Doing this a few times before and during your exam can ease tension and help you refocus.

Pace Yourself: Don’t Rush Through the Exam

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 have a negative effect. Rushing through questions can lead to your misreading questions and making silly mistakes. It can also increase your heart rate and make you feel more anxious and stressed.

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

Don’t Get Stuck on One Question

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 not to 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 wandering, pull it back to yourself and what you are doing.

Replace Negative Thoughts with Positive or Neutral Ones

Or at least don’t think negatively. Negative thoughts 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 in 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 work out on 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.