Anushiya's tips to overcome your exam stress
7 April 2022
Hi, my name’s Anushiya and I’m a final year Law and Psychology student here at Macquarie!
Yes, it’s that time of the session again. No, I’m not talking about the end of session break, I’m talking about the month that comes before that: exam period.
Everyone experiences exam-related stress to some extent. No matter how well prepared you are for your exam, you might have that little, persistent voice in your head that spurs doubt in your mind before you even put pen to paper.
So, whether you’re completing your first or last exam at Macquarie, here are some handy tips to help you deal with exam stress.
Talk to your peers
Remember, two heads are better than one.
Discuss your exam content doubts with friends who are completing the same unit as you. They might have a better grasp of the content and may be able to help you understand a difficult concept in simple terms. Alternatively, share your doubts on your unit’s iLearn discussion forum and a fellow classmate might be able to help you out.
If you really don’t understand a concept, contact your tutor or convenor directly and they’ll be happy to explain the concept to you.
Switch up your study style
We are all different learners – some of us may be visual learners while others may be auditory learners – there is no one size fits all approach. So, instead of writing out your notes verbatim from your textbook or lecture slides why not try a different mode of revising?
Try presenting your notes in a graph format or record yourself explaining a difficult concept using simple terms – this may help you understand and retain information better.
Don’t study 24/7
It’s important to get a good night’s rest. There’s no point cramming the night before. Believe me, the information will not magically sink into your brain no matter how hard you try.
The more you study the more likely you are to procrastinate. This is because your brain needs to take a break at some point and the more you study, the longer the break your brain will need to take.
Instead of falling into this trap, make sure you reward yourself with short, structured breaks in between your study sessions. This will ensure that you have time to relax your brain so when you do go back to your study session, you’re able to stay focused.
If you can’t help yourself from procrastinating think about the fact that you literally have a two-month break (or even longer if you’re lucky enough to finish exams early!) once you finish your exams, so what’s the point in procrastinating now?
Practice taking your exam under exam conditions
Completing practice exams can help remove the element of surprise that sometimes comes with the final exam. It does so by helping you:
- Understand the layout of the exam and the types of questions that may be asked
- Practice applying your knowledge
- Gauge how much time you need to allocate to each question in order to complete the paper (and have extra time to go over your answers)
- Highlight the gaps in your knowledge and areas you need to revise
You can access past exam papers via the Library’s MultiSearch platform. Just search your unit code or unit name in the search bar.
Try to replicate exam conditions as much as possible when completing your practice exam. To do this make sure:
- You’re sitting at a desk in a quiet space
- You don’t have access to your notes or other external materials if your exam is closed book
- You do have access to your notes or other permissible external materials if your exam is open book
- You don’t have access to your phone, music, social media, or any other distractions
Be organised
Try to eliminate anything that might need organising on the day of your exam so that you can wake up focused and unstressed. For example, if you’re having an on campus exam make sure your bag is packed with all the essential equipment you need the night before. If you’re having an online exam, make sure your desk is clean and tidy, and that your internet connection is up to speed (make sure you have 4G as backup!)
It’s not the be all and end all
At the end of the day, uni exams aren’t designed to trick you. Instead, they’re designed to confirm that you understand the content that you’ve already learnt throughout the semester.