Dealing with mid-year exam stress

So, the honeymoon period is over. That blissful time where “it’s too early to matter” rings throughout the schoolyard has finally come to a close. Half-yearlies are approaching. It’s game time.

Whether you’re traditionally cool as a cucumber or known to have the odd anxiety episode (aka frequent), it’s the norm to be feeling the pressure at this time of year. So here at the Atomi headquarters we’ve put our heads together and come up with what we think are some of the best strategies to deal with mid-year exam stress:

1. Love Yourself

Bieber said it best. You have to put yourself first. Like the old airplane adage, put your life-jacket on before helping others because you can’t help anyone if you’re dead. In this case, put your own health before the health of your ATAR because you can’t smash the HSC if you’re not at your best.

This doesn’t mean a daily 5 Star massage or a weekend away, it can really be the little self-care things that make all the difference. Don’t let the HSC get in the way of you:

• Getting a decent night’s sleep
• Eating well and regularly
• Sticking to your normal exercise routine
• Actually going outside
• Taking breaks that are relaxing and rewarding
• Spending time with other humans i.e. friends and family

All these things will ensure you’re at peak performance. Giving up everything to study may seem like a good option, but you’re going to suffer in the long run.

2. Get your environment down pat

Now this is crucial and often crucially ignored: your environment is so important for maintaining your mood, attitude, attention span, and for controlling stress levels. Now is about the time you should be nailing down exactly what environment you study best in. For some, nothing can beat their bedroom (tidy, preferably). For others, nothing will get done outside the pressurised four walls of the library. Figure out what space you need to work in, light a nice scented candle if you need to, and get down to business.

3. Put things in perspective

While half-yearlies are nothing to be laughed at, often accounting for 15% of your internal grade, they’re not exactly going to determine the rest of your life either. The HSC can be quite the psychological game. There’s no point getting paralysed by fear, or giving up because it’s all too much. Be realistic: remind yourself whenever you feel the stress rising that this is another set of exams just like all the ones you’ve done before, and all to come. Actually, these ones should be a little easier because you’ve only learnt half of the content so you’re job is actually as easy as it’s going to be.

Put your head down, grit your teeth, and get through it. At the end of the day, you’re not attempting brain surgery.

4. Treat. Yo. Self.

Sometimes dogs aren’t only a man’s best friend, they can be an okay role model too. Adopt the puppy rewards model and treat yourself for good behaviour: Smash out 3 hours study a day for a week and have a whole day off, doing whatever you want. Smash out a past paper in the time limit, AND with all your memorised quotes included, and indulge in that Mars bar and a cheeky Netflix episode. It’s not all about ridiculous levels of focus all the time, finding the fun in a study day keeps you motivated while staying on track and productive. Which leads me nicely to:

5. Be prepared

The best way to get rid of stress is to not have any reason to be stressed in the first place. Now, I know this one is a bit of a cop out, but admit it: if you’ve put in the hard yards and prepped for your exams as best as you can, you have nothing to worry about. Some quick tips to get on top of this:

1. Make sure your study notes are up to date
2. Refresh last term’s topics with HSC Hub crash course videos
3. Practice some tricky questions with the help of the Hub’s application videos
4. Go out on your own and attempt a few past papers under exam conditions

Et voila: no stress required.

No one ever said this was going to be the most easy-going time of your life, but by keeping these things in mind you should definitely be able to get through mid-yearlies without a breakdown.

Besides, there’s always trials...