Exam season.
The time where students across the country spend a few months revising until 3am, completing past papers like their life depends on it and worrying that they're going to fail and ruin their entire lives because they didn't know the middle name of Henry VII's cat or how to work out the angle of X in a quadrilateral with no further information.
Whether SAT, GCSE, A/AS Level or Uni level exams, it is a horrible, stressful and tiring time for all. Whether you are worried about scraping the C in maths and English, or worried that you won't get the needed many A*'s to get into Oxford, all the overwhelming pressure on exams leads to a few months of hell for students.
I for one, know this feeling well. Studying for 10 hours a day, constantly pestering teachers and friends for help, being put down by the past paper you a U in when your exams in 2 weeks (yes, I'm indirecting you GCSE Additional Maths). I also find myself struggling to sleep, feeling so tired and lethargic that the stress makes me ill and even eating an unhealthy amount less than normal, when really I should be eating more. Feeling bad for getting up to speak to your mum for 5 minutes because its 5 minutes less you'd been revising. Getting stressed trying to decide what needs revising first. The actual revising, then realising you literally remember nothing of what you wrote down 20 seconds ago.
Exam season for me, is one that is bad for my mental health, naturally. The added stress and panic means a complete increase in levels of anxiety that, especially for my AS levels, led to too many panic attacks and breakdowns.
For me, my best simply isn't good enough. My 196/200 UMS in AS Psychology wasn't good enough. Why didn't I get the full 200? Obviously I was over the moon with my grade, but I know for me and many others that anything we do and whatever we get isn't good enough. There is always something telling you that you could have done better, whether this be your parents, friends, classmates, your dream university or yourself. This is the problem with exams. Doing your best isn't enough. You have the whole stress of having to relearn a years content, knowing the structure of writing an essay, the actual build up the exam day, sitting in an exam hall in silence not knowing what will come up and then the discussions afterwards. If that isn't bad enough (with the added anxiety of spending 2 months thinking about your results, then results day itself), you always have someone who's done better than you, someone who is upset you didn't do better, even though you did all you could.
Exam season is full of anxiety. It is full of anger and demotivation and stress to the point that during the last few exam seasons I've had, I've been at the worst mentally I had for a while.
This is why I find it especially important to be making sure that you take care of yourself during exam season.
For many years I put my grades before my health, both mental and physical. I know I did. I looked more tired each day that passed, I was noticeably losing weight, I was really really ill and any progress in terms of recovery I had made were ruined in this time, because I was so stressed, anxious and sad that I couldn't carry on trying to recover as well.
This year, it's going to be different.
Because when you start stressing because of exams to the point your health is poor, you start stressing even more which leads to your health getting worse.
And it does get to a time where you have to stop, accept you're doing as much as you can do and breathe.
Breathe.
Take one second to think about how far you've come. You've gotten through the year of hard work like you've got through every other. The fact you are even doing these exams is wonderful and an amazing place to be.
You learn better when you are healthy, calm and mentally okay. You may feel guilty by taking an hour or a day out of revising, but by giving yourself this break you are allowing your brain to rest so you don't overload yourself on information and tire yourself out.
You need to do the things you love to do on a normal basis, even though circumstances are different.
Want to go on a night out? Go, let off some steam. Want to meet up with a friend? Go on a day trip? Sleep all day? Read? Do it. Do everything you love and everything you do that makes you feel happy to make sure you are staying calm in the most stressful part of the year.
Make sure you continue to look after yourself. Make sure you're getting the right amount of sleep, eating well, showering, exercising and drinking water. A healthy body leads to a healthy mind, which helps you learn and helps with exams in itself.
Make sure you are organised as well, you don't want to realise the day before your exam that you don't know the room or you don't have the right equipment. Take plenty of breaks when studying, to refresh your brain and stay awake. Make a revision timetable. Plan studying around when you work best and avoid any bad habits, like staying away from goals.
Remember, you can only do your best.
I know that's a phrase that you are constantly hounded with, even I find it hard to accept. We are all socialised to believe we can do more, we can get a better grade, but realistically we cannot give 100% all the time. We physically cannot always be working to our optimal and that is okay. Do the best that you can physically do, taking in the circumstances. If that means doing 2 hours of work, then that is okay. And by setting realistic goals, it is much easier to do that. Whether this be during revision or grades for certain exams, make sure you aren't going to be significantly disheartened because you couldn't get a top mark, when realistically in a certain subject you struggled in, your best mark may seen average.
If you are extremely worried about exams, don't be afraid to talk to someone, whether this be a friend, school councillor or a friend. It can help to get your feelings out.
And put it all into perspective.
One bad grade won't ruin your life.
Because you didn't get a high grade in one exam of the many you have taken and will take in your lifetime, it doesn't mean your life is over. One bad grade won't get you kicked out a school/college/uni. If you miss grades to get into a uni, it isn't the end of the world. Wherever you end up you will have fun and learn.
Exam success doesn't define you. A grade doesn't define you. Because you couldn't pass GCSE maths, doesn't mean you are a failure and that you aren't smart. People are good at different things and just because theres something you can't do, that doesn't make you an idiot. Your talents are what you should focus on. Maybe you are a fantastic painter. A top athlete. A singer. Maybe you can't do English but you are a science whizz. The things we forget is that we can't be good at everything. But we can excel in a few things. Employers won't care about your grade if you aren't going into a relevant field. And they'll also care about you as a person, don't forget that.
And once an exam is over, you cannot do anything about it.
You've come this far and you're doing great. Keep it up. Look after yourself.
Don't stress too much about a one hour exam that won't matter in a few years time when you are doing bigger and better things.
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