Smashing your mid-year exams: Part 1

Five steps to controlling stress

Term 1 is tricky.

It kind of sounds like you’re at the beginning of the year until you realise that you’re actually in year 12 and the mid-year exams are just around the corner.

We know that we’ve spoken about managing stress before but it’s so easy to get blindsided by the gentle (raging) stress that creeps up on you around half-yearlies so we’ve decided to tackle it again!

Managing stress is super important for your general wellbeing but if you would sell a kidney on the internet right now for a Band 6, then remember that you will never be able to study effectively if you psyche yourself out or stress yourself sick.

Seriously, in the interest of getting your best results, here are five ways to manage your mid-year stress.

1. Take care of you

Put yourself first. After all: taking care of yourself is taking care of your ATAR!

This isn’t an excuse for daily massages, new shoes or a weekend away (sorry!), it’s more about making sure you don’t completely stop your life for these exams. You might think you don’t have time for it, but it’s seriously far better for controlling stress if you remember to:

• Get a decent night’s sleep
• Eat well and regularly
• Stick to your normal exercise routine (In the absence of a normal exercise routine, please just go outside every now and then)
• Take decent breaks that are relaxing and rewarding
• Spend time with other humans i.e. friends and family (If other humans aren’t your thing, then the company of pets is very therapeutic)

It sounds a bit like ‘mum’ advice but giving up everything to study is seriously one of the least effective decisions for your study.

2. Find your ideal study space

Now this one is crucial and often ignored: your study environment. It’s so important for determining your mood, attitude, attention span and stress levels.

There is no magic recipe that works for everyone and often, finding your perfect study environment is a case of trial and error.

Figure out a space that is nice-ish to study in (good lighting seems to be a popular option) but also somewhere you can work effectively (think: minimal distractions). Knowing that you’re wasting your precious study time by talking to friends or playing video games will really take your guilty stress to a new level.

3. Keep just a bit of perspective

Yes, these exams are important in your HSC year. They are usually worth about 15% of your internal grade and they’re an important step in making sure your study strategy is on point for trials and the HSC.

But, honestly, mid-year exams are not worth a complete breakdown.

The HSC can be quite the mind game and you need to pace yourself with the rest of the year in mind. There’s no point getting paralysed by fear, or giving up because it’s all too much. Please, please don’t burn out in Term 1.

Just be realistic: whenever you feel the stress rising, remind yourself that this is another set of exams just like all the ones you’ve done before. Actually, these ones should be a little easier because you’ve only learnt half the year’s content so your job is actually easier than the Year 11 end-of-year exams.

4. Break it down

Mid-year exams are stressful because they creep up really quickly and seem totally impossible to study for while you still have class and homework.

A seriously practical step in managing your stress is taking a few minutes to break down what you need to do for the exams into small goals. This means that you will know where to start and know that you will actually be able to manage these mid-year exams.

If your English exam is going to be a Mod A essay, then break that task down into little steps so you know you’ll be ready in time for the exam and won’t need to panic.

Your list of steps might look something like this-

• Decide on a thesis or overall argument
• Pull out quotes or techniques from your texts that help prove your point
• Write an introduction and conclusion
• Map out a structure of body paragraphs that support your thesis
• Create a mock question and give yourself 40mins to answer it

Even if it seems really basic, just being able to look at small steps and say ‘hey, I can actually do that’ chips away at how overwhelming and impossible mid-years can seem.

You’ll feel like you’re making progress and the satisfaction will be pretty damn high as far as school is concerned.

5. Be prepared

We’ve saved the best for last.

The more ready for these exams you feel, the less stressed you’ll be. Sit down and get cracking on some really good study. It’ll make you realise that you really can nail the challenge of mid-year exams.

If you’re not sure where to start or how to study for these exams, don’t worry. We’ve got your back.

Keep an eye out over the next few days for Part 2 of Smashing Your Mid-Years where we’ll give you a clear five-step study guide that will help you know exactly how to study for these exams and hopefully make it easier to get started!

Once you start making some real progress with your study and take the time to consider your health, environment and the reality of the task ahead, you should definitely be able dominate your mid-yearlies without a meltdown.