By: Sobi Mohan
Exam season is one of the most dreaded times by a student. Exams are used to test and recall all the things you have been able to learn in a class. These exams are worth such a high percentage of the overall mark of the class. Also, all exams occur during the same week and a student with multiple classes will have to manage studying for all these exams at the same time. This stress that students go through is sickening and feels like the worst week of their life.
When I had my first exam, I was overwhelmed since I had four different exams, all in the same week. Many of my friends even had exams on the same day that they were stressed about since there was a lot of information to obtain in such little time. My English exam was my first one in grade 9, this exam was the easiest since I didn’t have much to memorize. Science was my second exam and this was the hardest exam I had ever done. There were over five chapters to learn and recalling this information was very difficult since the science topics were very detailed and I had very limited time to study. My third exam was on Family Studies and this went well since the information was mainly common knowledge. After this very dreaded and demanding week, I was looking forward to my last exam of the semester. Unfortunately, this French exam was difficult since I had taken so much of the week to study for the Science exam. This is a situation many teenagers face and being unprepared leads to unsuccessful results. Exam week was the most stressful time of grade 9. I didn’t have any time for a break or to indulge in things that I liked such as watching shows or baking. All my time consisted of reviewing for exams and this led to my sleep schedule being compromised and my mental health reaching an all time low. This was extremely frightening since I was new to high school but I am glad to acknowledge that my habits when studying for exams have gotten better and I am able to handle the stress of exams.
Some tactics that have helped me cope with the stress of exams are remembering to take mental breaks, prioritizing sleep, relaxation techniques and breaking work into chunks. One of the most important lessons that I have learned is to always take breaks and do things that bring me joy. Studies have even proven that taking breaks helps retain information and focus better. When I first started doing exams, I did not care for breaks since I wanted to use as much time to study but this led to my mental health not being the best. Now, I am aware how important wellness breaks are. Prioritizing sleep is also very vital since without sleep, you will not be able to perform your best for an exam. Sleeping will also help you remember information. Relaxation techniques are also very helpful to deal with stress. Meditation is a very relaxing activity that helps me eliminate stress since it helps to sort out thoughts. Lastly, a really important method that has definitely helped me cope with exam stress is breaking work into chunks. Looking at all the information that you need to memorize and learn can be intimidating but breaking the topics into chunks helps to see that the work is able to be done. These tactics will hopefully help you ace your exams and not make the same mistakes as I did in the beginning.