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By Times’ Junior Journalist Katherine Zuo The end of the year is drawing closer. For many students, this is when exam stress kicks in. Exam stress is the tension we feel during exam season. But it becomes a red flag when it affects your mental well-being negatively in any way, such as sleep deprivation or feeling extra overwhelmed. Kumeshni Kistasamy is a Health Improvement Practitioner at Botany Junction Medical. She has a background in psychotherapy and spoke with me about exam stress and how to manage it. Many students experience exam stress and it’s more common and important than many people think. It’s something we should be aware of. It’s caused when we feel like we’re not in control of something. The brain senses danger which causes the stress response, and it sends a message to the body. This could come from not being prepared or not knowing what to expect. It is all the unknowns. Exam stress can be shown through signs such as not knowing what to do, anxiety, eating differently, and not being able to sleep and focus. Not everyone experiences all of these signs. Some might only notice one or two, while others feel the full weight of them. There is no single cause for exam stress, but common influences include peer pressure from parents and peers, fear of failure or disappointing others, and bad experiences with past exams. Long-term exam stress can become a chronic condition of anxiety and stress. It can affect your physical and mental health. So having coping mechanisms is important. It doesn’t always strike at the same time for everyone. For some, it might kick in when they’re preparing for their exam. For others, it might creep in when they’re sitting the exam, in a heavily-pressured environment. Students who feel prepared and know what to do will be able to manage the stress better than the students walking into the exam not prepared. This raises the question: How are students supposed to cope with exam stress? When you type that into Google, so many tips pop up and you instantly get overwhelmed. Some techniques to calm down the system are calming activities such as mindfulness and breathing, doing something creative such as painting or writing, eating healthy such as eating your greens rather than eating sugary stuff and caffeine, and exercise by going out for a walk or run during your study breaks. Before the exam, you can plan out your study sessions to feel prepared. Because when you know what to expect it helps calm down the nerves. The important thing is finding the right study technique. Breaking down content into small, manageable chunks can soften the load. But when it kicks in during an exam, try to ground yourself. You can do this through things like taking deep breaths, positive affirmations, and use your senses (naming things you can see, hear, touch, smell, or taste). For the parents who want to help their children cope with exam stress, you can provide reassurance, listening to them, supporting them, and talking about it with them. Instead of putting pressure such as telling them they haven’t started studying yet, just check in with them. Exam stress is real, and it’s normal to feel it. But what matters most is how we respond to it. To all the students experiencing exam stress, take a deep breath, and remember you’re not alone in this. Katherine Zuo is in year 10 at Macleans College
