Revision and
exams
Dealing with exam nerves
It is completely natural to feel anxious about exams. In fact, a degree of anxiety is probably useful to
improve performance. Research first done by Yerkes and Dodson suggests that, up to a certain point, stress
usually improves performance:
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Performance or efficiency
A ‘medium’ level of stress tends to lead to better performance
in high-pressure situations such as exams.
Too much stress, as we all know, has a negative effect on how
well we do…
…but perhaps surprisingly, so do very low levels of anxiety. (This
end of the scale could perhaps be labelled ‘overconfidence’.)
Stress or anxiety
What is desirable, of course, is to keep your level of exam stress at the ‘useful’ level, and not let it get too high.
This handout describes three ways you might manage exam anxiety: by being healthy, by being prepared
and by being realistic.
Be healthy
Good physical and mental health is of course important in itself. But at times of unusually high pressure – in the
lead up to exams, for example – it is doubly important.
A healthy body:
•
Make sure your diet is well balanced. Include plenty of fruits and vegetables. Include foods that
release energy slowly, such as brown rice, oats, nuts and seeds. Do have breakfast on the
morning of an exam.
•
Drink plenty of water (2 litres per day is usually recommended). Water is essential for good brain
functioning. Drink only small amounts of caffeine and alcohol, if any. Remember to drink water on
the day of the exam, too.
•
Get as much exercise as you can. Useful revision can be done whilst exercising – you do not have
to be chained to a desk for days before an exam!
•
Get sufficient and regular sleep. Lack of sleep will certainly affect your ability to recall and
communicate information. If anxiety affects your ability to sleep properly, it is especially important
to stick to a routine by going to bed at a regular time.
A healthy attitude:
•
See the exam for what it is. It has not been set up to fail you. (In fact, lecturers go to great lengths
to design exams to support success.) It is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your learning,
and as such should be relished!
•
Keep the exam in perspective. Your overall success and future happiness do not depend on the
outcome of any one exam.
•
Try positive thinking – especially if you know that you are easily ‘sabotaged’ by negative thoughts.
List the study qualities you do have, and consider how they will help before and during an exam.
Repeat positive statements to yourself and banish negative ones.
Try visualisation. This is a powerful technique that can be very effective if, for example, you know that it is the
idea of the exam itself that makes you nervous. With visualisation, ‘positive’ neural pathways created in your
brain when you imagine the exam are reactivated when you’re really in the situation.
What to do: several times before the exam, and in an environment where you can relax, close your eyes
and imagine yourself immediately before and during the exam. ‘See’ yourself walking calmly to your seat
and reading the questions calmly. Feel yourself planning and writing answers with which you are happy.
Imagine receiving good results. Imagine success!
Dealing with panic: if you ever suffer from periods of very high levels of anxiety, either before or (more
commonly) during exams, try one or more of the following to help you calm down:
1
Control your breathing – inhale slowly until your lungs are full and exhale quickly, relaxing
your shoulders as you do. Alternatively, having filled your lungs, breathe out slowly, and
control this exhalation by making it last as long as it takes you to say to yourself ‘sigh-outslow-ly’ (SOS).
2
Exercise some of your muscles – even in an exam, it is possible to bend and then relax
fingers, arms and legs, straighten your back etc. Repeat these movements several times.
3
Give yourself two or three minutes of ‘blank time’ – forget about the exam and
concentrate on something that relaxes you, e.g. a particular place, person or piece of music.
Be prepared
Knowing what the exam will be like is very important. For most exams, of course, you do not know in advance
exactly what will be required, but you can and should make sure that you know:
•
•
•
•
•
The day and time of each of your exams – copy the information into a diary, organizer, calendar etc.
The exam venue – if at all possible, visit the venue to familiarise yourself with getting there, where
you might wait and what the exam hall itself looks like.
Any rules about equipment allowed.
The topics that could come up in each exam.
The duration and structure of the exam paper, i.e. what sections the exam is divided into and how
many questions of what type (e.g. multiple-choice, short answer, essay) must be answered.
Of great use for the third and fourth points above are past papers. These are equivalent exam papers from
previous years of your course. Past papers for many courses can be obtained from:
www.port.ac.uk/library/exams – if yours are not there, ask a tutor in your department.
The most important aspect of being prepared for an exam is of course to have done some revision – see the
handouts The revision process and Revision timetables for more information on this.
Be realistic
We have already mentioned the importance of keeping exams in perspective. Additionally, it is important to
understand that your exam writing is not expected to be of the same quality as your writing for coursework
assignments. Details will vary depending on course, but in general:
•
•
•
Exam answers often do not need to be as long as coursework assignments.
You are not expected to reference as many sources as you might for a coursework assignment.
Occasional errors of spelling and punctuation lose fewer marks than equivalent errors in
coursework assignments.
Martin Hampton (with thanks to Paul Ramsay)
email: [email protected]
www.port.ac.uk/ask
RE4: 08/10
DCQE
Department for Curriculum
and Quality Enhancement