Exams: Navigating Anxiety

Techniques For Managing Stress And Thriving Under Pressure

As the exam season begins, many students find themselves grappling with a familiar foe: anxiety. The pressure to perform coupled with the uncertainty of the outcome can weigh heavily on even the most prepared minds. However, with the right techniques and strategies, it’s possible to navigate exam anxiety and emerge stronger and more resilient than ever.

Practice Mindfulness And Relaxation Techniques

Mindfulness techniques, such as deep breathing, meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation, can help students calm their minds and bodies in the face of exam-related stress. Encourage your child to set aside time each day for mindfulness practice, whether it’s a few minutes of deep breathing before bed or a guided meditation session in the morning. By cultivating a sense of presence and awareness, students can reduce anxiety levels and improve their ability to focus and concentrate during exams.

Break Tasks Into Manageable Chunks

The prospect of tackling a mountain of study material can feel overwhelming, leading to heightened anxiety levels. Help your child break down their study tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks, and create a realistic study schedule that allows for regular breaks and rest periods. Make sure you take time to celebrate small wins, such as completing a task. By focusing on one task at a time and celebrating small victories along the way, students can build confidence and momentum as they work towards their exam goals.

Foster a Supportive Environment

A strong support network can provide a much-needed source of comfort and encouragement during times of stress. Encourage your child to reach out to friends, family members or teachers, for support and guidance. Remind them that it’s okay to ask for help when needed and that they are not alone in their struggles. By fostering a supportive environment, students can feel empowered to share their feelings and seek assistance when necessary.

Practice Positive Self-Talk

Negative self-talk can exacerbate anxiety and undermine confidence, making it difficult for students to perform at their best. Encourage your child to challenge negative thoughts and replace them with positive affirmations and self-talk. Remind them of their strengths, past successes, and resilience in overcoming challenges. By cultivating a positive mindset and reframing negative thoughts, students can boost their self-esteem and confidence, leading to improved performance in exams.

Prioritise Self-Care

In the midst of exam preparation, it’s essential for students to prioritise self-care and well-being. Encourage your child to maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating nutritious meals, getting regular exercise, and prioritising adequate sleep. Encourage them to engage in activities they enjoy, whether it’s spending time with friends, pursuing hobbies, or simply taking a break to relax and recharge. By prioritising self-care, students can enhance their resilience, reduce stress levels, and improve their overall well-being.

Empowering Students To Thrive In Their Exams

While exam anxiety is a common experience for many students, it doesn’t have to define their exam experience. By implementing these techniques for managing anxiety, students can cultivate resilience, confidence, and well-being, enabling them to face exams with courage and composure. Encourage your child to practise mindfulness and relaxation techniques, break tasks into manageable chunks, foster a supportive environment, practise positive self-talk, and prioritise self-care. With these tools and strategies at their disposal, students can navigate exam season with grace and emerge stronger and more resilient than ever.

If you or your child are studying with Oxford Open Learning and want some information regarding exams, you can Contact Us.

In the second in our series of three articles on how to study from home we discussed the importance of setting achievable goals in your programme of study.  In this last article in the series we will look at what should happen during each study period.

Study habits

To make the most of the time available for study, it helps to form good study habits.  Read through the following list to see whether there are suggestions that may help you settle into a good study routine.

1. Set aside specific study times each week.  In our first article we noted the importance of planning ahead to allocate study times during the week ahead.
2. Try not to do too much at once.  It is better to divide your study time into short sessions than to study for too long and lose concentration.  Taking short breaks can help restore concentration.  Most face-to-face lessons are no longer than 50 minutes in university, and 40 minutes (or so) in schools.  Some study tasks might need to be broken down into shorter periods with short breaks.
3. If possible, try to study at the same time each day, so that study becomes part of your daily routine.  This might be for an hour before or after work; a period during the evening, or during the day when other commitments allow.
4. We noted the importance of short-term goals in our last article.  At the beginning of each study session set a goal for your study: for example, to complete a lesson, finish an assignment, or go over a piece of marked work.  If you are clear about what you want to achieve then you are on your way to success.  If you sit down with little idea of what you want to achieve, or how long you will study for, the task quickly becomes unfocused and aimless.
5. Don’t put off till tomorrow what you planned to do today.  If you don’t like the look of an assignment, or think the next lesson will be difficult or dull, don’t let this put you off using that study session.  Deal with that task, then finish with something that interests you and will whet your appetite for the next session.  For some people, things work the other way around: they begin with the easy/interesting/good section and then move on to the more challenging task once they are focused.  Find what works best for you.
6. Always review what you did last time before beginning something new.  There should be continuity, and a lesson learned is a building block towards the new.  Consolidating what you know gives a firm foundation on which to build.
7. Switch off your phone!  How many times have you set out to do something and then the phone rings…
8. When you are stuck you could phone a friend, or email your tutor, and work through the bit that you find difficult.  Sometimes it helps to talk through the problem with someone else.
9. Review your work.  Before you send in an assignment, read it over carefully and check spelling, punctuation, calculations, and presentation.  This process helps you to spot mistakes, learn from them, and improve the quality of your work.  In your exam, you should try to allow time at the end to read over your answers and check for errors.
10. Reward yourself when you achieve your short-term goals.  Go and see that new film, or buy that lipgloss, or watch that match!  Feeling that you have achieved what you set out to do is the best motivation for moving up to the next goal.  Achieving long-term goals is like climbing a mountain: one step at a time, and admire the view along the way!

If you would like to study at home with Oxford Open Learning, then contact us for more information.  Our students are based all over the world and study a wide range of subjects at GCSE, IGCSE, and A Level.  We also offer vocational courses in Educational Administration, Business Management, Accountancy, and Creative Writing.  See if there’s one that will enable you to achieve your goal.

In the first of this series of three articles on how to study from home we looked at ways to manage your time to ensure that you plan ahead and establish a regular study pattern, and at finding a good place (or places) to study.  Having established a time and a place, we will now turn our attention to what happens during that study time.

Setting Goals

To have the motivation successfully to complete your course of study, it is important that you set your own goals.  Goals must be something you want to achieve for yourself.  Goals can be short-term: finishing a lesson, say, or sending in your assignment on time; or long-term, such as passing your exam at the end of the course so that you can gain the qualification you need for something else.  Most people find it helps to have a series of short-term goals to help them achieve their long-term goal.

So when you sign up to your course, be clear about your long-term goal – it might help to have a visual reminder of what this is – stick up a message to yourself on the door of the fridge, above your work place, as a screensaver, or on your phone, to remind you of what you are working towards.

When you do your Sunday review (see first article), set some short-term goals.  These might include finishing your assignment, doing the preparation/planning/research for a piece of work, reading through a new lesson, doing lesson activities, reading around a topic, improving on your mark for an assignment.  When you achieve that short-term goal, give yourself a small reward before moving on to the next goal.

When you set goals, they should be

• clear: they should include WHAT you want, WHEN you want to achieve them by, and most importantly your WILL to achieve them
• achievable: set goals that are within your skills and abilities.  Setting goals that are beyond your reach will not help you forward
• realistic: make sure your goals can be achieved within the time available
• flexible: sometimes things don’t go to plan.  Allow for times when you may need to re-schedule or re-do, and don’t let small interruptions throw you off course
• measurable: short-term goals should allow you to measure your progress along a course.  Sometimes the goal may be set by a tutor, or the course materials.  Your tutor and the course writer know where you need to be at the end of the course, and will set goals along the way to help you.  Your own goals should take account of their advice, as they are there to help you.
• under your control: it’s up to you to achieve your long-term goal.  Your success depends on your input.  So set short-term goals that give you direction and help you to make progress.

In the last of this series of three articles on how to study at home we will look at how to make the most of your study time by establishing good study habits.

If your goal is to obtain a qualification that will help you further your career, be accepted on a course, or improve your knowledge or skills, find our more about our courses at Oxford Open Learning, or contact us for advice.  Our GCSE, IGCSE, A Level, AAT, CEA and Business Management courses have helped thousands of students to achieve their goals!