Exam Stress

Our life always offers us to take different exams - some or other kinds of trials, where we have to prove our competence, our well being, our determination and our IQ. Students having to submit a philosophy term paper, surgeon operating for the first time, unemployed, who came for the interview to his potential employer – all of them have the symptoms of the exam stress. If you are a student, there is no need for me to explain what exam stress is.  Sleepless nights, troubled thoughts, loss of appetite, rapid pulse, trembling hands - these are typical manifestations of exam fear. Recent research has shown that it affects all the systems of the human body: nervous, immune, cardiovascular, etc.

The scientists from Houston Medical School proved in the course of their research that exam fear increases the possibility of cancer. Unfortunately, the negative influence of this phenomenon on the students’ body and their psychology is underestimated nowadays. Social polls demonstrate that students perceive the exams as a “duel of questions and answers”, as a “severe torture” as “intellectual and emotional overload”. Writing term papers (e. g psychology term paper) most of them compare with “killing their time“. Yes, exams are important for you as their results influence your status, your self–esteem and your further perspectives of study and probably your future professional career. Such factors as long waiting for the exam, some uncertainty when taking your exam (it is like sink or swim) and the time limit for your preparation maximize emotional tension. Some foreign and native scientists, having studied this area thoroughly and have concluded that from a psycho hygienic position exams are undesirable and they should be cancelled.

At the same time there is quite opposite point of view, stating that exams stimulate brain activity and increase cognitive and mental activity. American psychologist Sarazon determined that those students who are afraid of exams can considerably improve their achievements and even outdo those who are not scared of them. The only necessary thing for it – is the encouraging attitude of the professors – they should strengthen students’ self-confidence. Surely, praise must prevail over scolding. Only then the exams are useful. Every person has their own optimal level of worry and anxiety, which helps him/ her to achieve the best results. You must learn how to control your stress and extra anxiety to graduate from the university as a healthy person. I hope that these small tips will be of practical help to you and you will forget what exam stress is in the negative meaning of the word.

If exams cause great worry, if you have some symptoms of exam stress (insomnia, rapid pulse, hands trembling and so on) you ought to do something about it. Use breath meditations, repeat formulas of autosuggestion, imagine the picture of ideal exam atmosphere. You also should take three relaxing sessions and reduce the level of stressful tension (a day before the exam, before leaving home for university and half an hour before the exam).

Try these simple tips which can save you hours of study time - and result in higher marks.

Highlighting Fundamentals

You have probably used highlighters in textbooks and study notes; but are you getting the most out of them?

To learn anything, you must repeat the material. You go over it again - and again -  and again. Then when you are confident that you have learned the information, you progress to more studying. However, this repetition process also means that you are wasting time going over facts and information you already know.

Don't do it!

After you have learned about 80% of the material, use a yellow highlighter to mark everything that has eluded you. Next time through, concentrate on only the yellow areas. Try the memorization process a few more times until you have absorbed about 80% of the yellow text. Then do it again, marking over top of the yellow with a pink highlighter. This produces an orange shade. Spend more time memorizing everything with orange highlights.

This highlighting process produces three sections:

·         Easy - no highlighting

·         Moderately difficult - yellow highlighting

·         Difficult - orange highlighting

The closer you get to an exam, the more time you should spend on the orange areas. They are your personal stumbling blocks. The 5%-10% of unknown material usually causes 95% or more of exam errors.

Magnetism – and not the Personal Kind

A magnetic metal clipboard can be a useful studying tool. If you don't have one, you can use a small magnetic dry-erase board and a bulldog clip. You will also need a small refrigerator magnet (the flat business-card type that is distributed by dentists and plumbers).

Clip a page of study notes onto the board and use the fridge magnet to cover the answers. If the telephone rings or you are distracted by raiding the fridge for a snack, the magnet will keep track of your place on the page.

Experiment to see how many pages you can clip onto the board at one time before the magnet refuses to stick. You might be able to work with a pile of 5 or more sheets. Go through the first one, put it on the bottom of the pile, and proceed to the next.

After exams are finished, you can recycle photocopies or printouts by turning them over and using the other side of each page. You might even want to make your own notepads.

Carefully line up a stack of paper. Lay the stack on the edge of a table or desk and set a couple of heavy books on top. Use notepad glue or white glue to paint the ends. Once the glue dries, remove the books and separate the pile into manageable notepads.

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