Stay Calm-Grab these easy tips

1.Get familiar with all aspects of the exam

Before taking an exam, get your hands on as many past exam papers as possible. Do them. Visit the room you’ll be taking the exam in and if you can, simulate a mock exam in that room.

By doing this, you will decrease your chances of any nasty surprises occurring on the day of the exam. Less nasty surprises = less stress.

2. Visualise the Exam Process

A week or so before your exam, spend 30 seconds to one minute each day visualising yourself going through the exam process. Imagine yourself waiting outside the exam room and focusing on your breathing, walking into the exam room with good posture feeling confident and calm, flipping through the paper during reading time and taking note of the questions you will start with.

Why do this?

Sports psychology tells us that the act of mentally rehearsing the process of doing anything will mean you will feel calmer and more confident when it comes time to actually do the task or execute the move.

3. Keep away from the ‘Meh’-heads

You know the people I’m talking about. The students who brag about the fact they have hardly studied and will probably fail. “I don’t care if I fail” they say with a smile, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they do care.

There is no point having their words occupy your precious mental space and drain your energy. You need to remain calm and focused for the exam, so do yourself a favour – avoid the ‘meh’ heads.

4. Breathe deeply – 3 Sighs

Often when we get stressed or nervous our breathing becomes shallower and faster. You can decrease your stress levels by consciously slowing down your breathing and using the “3 sigh” breathing technique.

This strategy requires you to take a deep breath in (filling up your chest), then hold and let out a big sigh. Repeat this twice. Letting out a big sigh is the fastest way to relax your body. This strategy takes only 10 seconds to do and can be repeated as many times as you like throughout the day.

5. Focus on what you know

My first lecturer at university told me that on the morning of an exam I had to forget about the things I hadn’t had a chance to study and simply focus on the things I knew.

He told us to tell ourselves statements such as “I know a lot more than I did before” and “I’ll be able to answer a lot of questions in the exam”.

He strongly urged us not to bother studying new content on the morning of our exams.