Exam Stress: What causes exam anxiety and the solutions that work

HOW TO DEAL WITH EXAM STRESS An independent study of 2000 college students by Stop Procrastinating found that are worried that stress and anxiety is affecting performance which will result in lower grades than expected. Students responding to the survey stated 35% Past 66% their stress and anxiety levels were high because they were struggling to cope with expectations and competition at college for results. of students believe blamed this on the difficult their levels of stress are greater than in the past. jobs market for young people, citing worry about lack of job opportunities. 45% blamed the overwhelming significance of their finals exams, or realising that underperforming could affect the rest of their lives, closing doors to opportunities and missing out on jobs graduate schemes that higher grades would have secured. 75% said they had procrastinated too much ahead of their exams, saying they wasted between three and four hours a day. 9% other. 7% said they tidied their room. 45% said they wasted time browsing the internet or on social media sites, watching videos or catching up on TV programmes instead of working. admitted to having sex instead of studying. 30% said they chatted to friends either in their room, their bar or local college facilities. 34% of these students were so worried they had sought professional help, either: • ollege counselling 71% said they had lacked motivation and service concentration coming up to their finals. • taking mood enhancing drugs 16% 37% had admitted to using performance enhancing or smart drugs to deal with their worries over performance. of college student also suffered from loneliness, with more than half of these students stating they had turned into work alcoholics who were too nervous of their exam performance to 'waste time' on socialising. The survey also canvassed students for what they do to avoid stress at exam time and prevent procrastinating. The results were: Take up exercise Visualised what they want to achieve each day Shared worries with friends or Listen to ) sought out university counsellor for help and guidance uplifting music OD Rewarded self Listen to comedy for studying Took up meditation Keep a plan of each day's work Blocked the internet Do small amount of while studying or revising www work each day before letting it build up. Read about successful people who had underperformed at college/university to discount any negative thoughts Stopped drinking alcohol 164%