Help Your Students To Stay Calm Through The Exams

The vast majority of students will experience stress during the exam season - in fact something would be strange if they didn't. I am not one of these people who think that all stress is bad - just the opposite. For one thing, the modern world is one of deadlines and accountability for most of us and stress goes with the territory. For another, some of what we call stress is actually what motivates us to try hard and to do our best!

However, for some students stress gets out of hand, and rather than driving them on, it paralyses them. That is what we must help our students to avoid at all costs.

Here are my 4 P's of exam readiness...

1. Preparation

It is vital that students not only are prepared, but that they feel prepared for exams. They need to know what each paper will look like, how long to spend on each question and what they are being asked to do. Preparation is about having no suprises on the day. It also means having a plan if things go wrong. I use things like, 'when in doubt, move on to the next question'  and 'don't worry about what you can't do, just do what you can do'. Some students need a "comfort blanket" resource that has all the answers in it - my GCSE and A Level blogs often serve that purpose.


2. Practice

Linked to preparation, is practice. Practising exam questions under timed conditions is very important. You can't get better at doing exams by talking about them - it's like trying to get better at surfing by sitting on the beach. Unless you get out there and wipe out a couple of times, you will never be any good. Experiencing success before the real exams is a great motivator and builds confidence. Students who wait until the final exam before they actually commit to answering the questions in the time given rarely do well.

3. Proportion

It is proportionate to be stressed about exams - they are important stepping stones and results do matter. However, some students think that there is more riding on their results that there actually is. I have listened to students spinning out of control because they genuinely think that their life will be over if they don't get the grades they have been predicted or think they should get. Focus them on what they need to move on to their next step - help them to have realistic goals and expectations.

Sometimes, students actually think that their families will love them less if they fail to achieve - which is almost never even close to being true. For students who are really struggling, I tell them about my own less than stellar academic performance at O Level - I got 5 C grades and above first time around. But I picked myself up and retook Maths and French and passed. I went on to achive 4 A Levels, and boy did I work harder for those. And if that doesn't work, we play a game I like to call "dumbasses with degrees" because, my friends, they walk amongst us!

4. Positivity

I believe that negative language and negative thinking go together. Don't let students talk themselves down - use positive language about learning always: "I can't" becomes "I can't yet..."; tests are "opportunities for information and feedback" so you can't fail them unless you fail to learn from them.

I have a lovely but somewhat interesting set of Year 11 students many of who were bombing in a recent exam practice session. They were supposed to be comparing two poems but some found it really hard because they had not memorised quotations as had I told them to.

I could have got mad. Really mad. It crossed my mind to let rip, but I thought better of it. This class do not do well with negativity.

So I got positive. OK, I said, so this is your real exam and your mind just went blank on any other poem. What CAN you do?

They could write about the printed poem.

Will that get you more marks than an empty page?

Yes it would.

So do that.

Oh now you come to mention it, Miss, I can remember single words from another poem - would that be any good?

Hallelujah and praise the Lord. Can you know see why I have been on at you to learn the darned quotes?

Yes Miss.

We'll have another go after Easter. Now go eat chocolate!