Managing Stress for Exams

Your child has an exam coming up and they are not coping well. This video gives strategies to overcome the stress so they can perform well.

TRANSCRIPT

Good morning! This is Jason Ursino from Learning Space, and I'm driving to school.

Today, I'm going to be talking about Managing Stress for Exams. Many students have the potential to do so well; however, because they cannot manage their stress in exams, their results do not reflect their ability. So, managing stress for exams is very important.

I'm going to give 3 ideas around this. The first one is the primitive needs. If a student doesn't have enough sleep, doesn't eat healthy, or doesn't exercise regularly, then the body is going to click into survival mode. The last thing it's going to think about is performing well in an exam. So, the student does need to remember to get the right amount of sleep. What's recommended is around about 8 hours sleep before an exam, specifically for high school students at least, so then they can be well-rested and well-prepared for the exams. Eating healthy is also important. If they do not fuel their bodies very well before an exam, it hinders their memory, it hinders their performance, and the exercise is important as well, making sure that they are just healthy and on top of things with their health before they can consider even performing well in an exam.

The second thing is balance. If they do study, study, study non-stop, they will find that they will almost just burn out. And even if they don't burn out, what you'll also find is that you could be stuck on a particular question within your study for a long time. But if you just get up and move away from your desk for a little bit, you'll then realise that you will have a clear mind, and as soon as you sit back down, you'll be able to do that question a lot easier because you had a rest. So, balance is important. Make sure you have time away from the desk, play a sport, read a book, go outside, okay, very important to go outside, to have that break away from your studies.

The third one is a study plan. One thing that I've noticed with students is that if they're not studying, they feel guilty, and they feel guilty about not doing their work. So having a study plan takes that guilt away. If it's scheduled in for them to have a rest and they're having a rest, they'll have a proper rest. They won't feel guilty about having their rest. So having a study plan is very important, and it coincides with the second point of balance, making sure that that is done properly. I have done a video before on study plans, and there is a lot of stuff on the Internet about how to put a study plan together, so something that should be utilised.

So, they are the 3 ways to manage stress for exams. The first one is the primitive needs, making sure that the body is healthy and has its needs before thinking about exams. The second one is having the right balance between time at the desk and time away from the desk, and then finally have a study plan so you know when it's time to rest and when it's time to study.

If you like my videos, there are more of them at learningspace.net.au/drivingtoschool, and have a good day.