Exam nerves

Many students are a bit nervous about their exams, and might even feel anxious. The good news is there are ways to avert this by adopting good habits a few weeks before the exam:

• Go about life as normal during these weeks. Make sure you get plenty of exercise and go out with your friends. Find time to relax.

• Eat a healthy diet. Overuse of stimulants lead to a breakdown just before the exam. So when it comes to stimulants, our advice is simply not to use them.

• Change the subject you are revising for roughly every two hours.

• Alternate between reading, writing, revision and learning. Take breaks!

• Form a study group with others who will be sitting the same exam. About two weeks before the exam date, hold a practice exam in which everyone gets to ask their questions. At this point, you still have time to fill any gaps in your knowledge.

• Listen carefully to your what your lecturers say during those weeks – they are very likely to drop hints concerning the exam.

• Ask fellow students who have already completed the exam about the exam format.

• Don't start learning a new subject matter on the day before the exam. Research in learning psychology suggests that you will not be able to remember much of it.

• Give yourself a treat on the evening before the exam, watch a movie, go to the theatre, eat out – but whatever you do, go to bed early so that you get enough rest.

• Try not to worry about gaps in your knowledge: no-one can know everything, especially when it comes to big exams, and it's too late to start learning now anyway.

• Think it through carefully: What would really happen if you failed the exam? After all, you can usually resit any failed examinations. And guess what – even successful people will have failed examinations in the past, sometimes spectacularly so!

• A certain amount of nervousness is normal before an exam. Try to cope and muddle through; examiners are generally quite understanding if the words don't come out right at the beginning of the exam.