Tips and Tools to Ease the Examination Pressure
Exam pressure is an inevitable fact of life for almost anyone. It can get to you at some point as you prepare, but it mostly creeps up as the dates get nearer, no matter how hard you have been working. That’s the thing about exam pressure, it comes to you when you’re confident. That’s why they say it’s inevitable.
However, the good news is that you can ease the nasty pressure, even if you can’t get rid of it completely. For this, you can always resort to meditation, healthy relaxation sessions or anything pleasant that distracts you and help you breathe. However, first, you need to prepare and be ready for the big exam, otherwise, it’ll look like you’re on some sort of fun vacation!
First Things First
A common mistake many students make, irrespective of their age whether they are at the elementary stage of school or at college or university, is that they do not plan their study sessions. It isn’t rare that you hear people say planning is the key to success. This certainly is true. As scary as it may sound, the truth is that a lack of planning could lead you straight to a big, fat ‘F’ at your examinations!
Unplanned study sessions, no matter how much you master the subject content, theories, and data, can have consequences, particularly when you try to recall them at your exam. Believe it or not, it is at this point that it creates confusion in your mind. If you stick to a certain system or order during your preparations, you will be able to locate your answers as you start to recall information, piece by piece. But if you don’t, you are likely to feel as though you’re running in a maze, frantically, inside your head.
Planned study sessions can give you more confidence and efficiency when sitting your exams. If you fail in this area, it can only add extra pressure. Thus, it is incredibly important that you have a well laid out plan, and that you stick to it!
Expectations and Capacities
It is vital to keep in mind that you are not some a winding toy or a robot. This means you need to set realistic goals as far as your abilities and performance is concerned.
For instance, you need to know that memorising an entire chapter or section by heart does not make you clever or bright, it only makes you a person with a great memory. This is certainly helpful but not the most essential trait for success at your examinations. Instead, it is your ability to understand concepts and ideas and identify where they could be applied that actually determines your capability. Thus, you need to know what ‘studying’ actually means, and do exactly that as you prepare for a big exam.
The Web is Great if You Use it Well
If your parents have forbidden you and taken away all your gadgets when your examinations are coming up, it’s probably because you’re overusing them, or abusing them. However, exams do give you a chance to put your tech to incredibly good use. There are plenty of useful tools and apps made available to make your exam preparation process less stressful and whole lot effective, even fun! From ample study material to advice, tips, and tricks, they are all available right at your fingertips.
Studying on your phones and tablets is not just a trend now. It is extremely convenient and effective, given that you use it well. Now, this does not mean that you should completely ditch your texts, notes, and references you usually rely on, but you can use the tech trends to enhance your preparation process and make your experience an interesting and fun one.
Reliability
Speaking of learning tools, you need to make sure to look for the right apps and websites such as This is important because you want to find material that is completely reliable in terms of quality and authenticity. All of the material you use can actually determine the fate of your career, because information makes a key part of the learning process. Additionally, if you are at a higher level of education, factors such as ‘plagiarism’ come into play, which is extremely important for you to know and adhere to when it comes to your examinations.
Procrastination and Accumulation are both Dangerous
This isn’t the first time we are talking about ‘early preparation’. When you say ‘early’, it does not mean ‘as soon as examination dates are announced’. Technically, ‘early’ preparation is more about continuous learning and recalling during your school/college life. While many are guilty of overlooking the importance of this practice, they also have no clue how helpful it could be, and how much pressure it could take off their shoulders.
Then, there are also others who not only start preparing late but keep procrastinating; sometimes, right up to their exams! Procrastination not only leads to accumulation of content that you need to study, but also adds loads of stress and pressure on you.
Most of this pressure comes from the amount of content that you end up accumulating, and the rest of it comes from guilt – the guilt of frittering away your time, and not taking things too seriously. In addition, even when you do realize it, you still won’t be able to focus on the rest of the little time you have. All of this is a lot of stress to handle. Thus, doing it all at the right time to prevent such problems is a lot better than facing the consequences.
As you can see, the key to facing exam stress and pressure isn’t about finding means to cope with or handle it. It is more about what you can do to prevent or minimize the way it gets at you. The little things actually make a huge difference in the way you feel as your exams approach. In other words, they will make the pressure feel like a nasty gnaw or nothing but a nibble to you.
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