Exam Nerves

Exam Nerves and Methods to Help Life and Mind Coaching Academy | Your journey. Your way. Always. WELLBEING & MENTAL HEALTH | BLOG Exam Nerves and How to Overcome Them: A Compassionate Guide for Students, Parents, and Carers Something caught my attention recently. Walking past a local school, I noticed young people heading through the gates with their revision notes in hand — heads down, lips moving quietly, fully absorbed in their preparation. There was something quietly beautiful about it. That level of dedication, that early morning commitment, deserves to be acknowledged. But it also gave me pause. Because I found myself wondering: how much of what I was witnessing was a love of learning — and how much was the weight of pressure? The pressure to perform, to meet expectations, to not fall short? And that distinction matters enormously, particularly when it comes to mental wellbeing. I was not a natural academic. School was not a place where I thrived in the traditional sense. But the passion for learning that I have discovered and cultivated since then has become one of the most defining parts of who I am. It informs everything I do and everything I am working towards. A grade did not shape that. Life did. This post is for every student sitting exams right now, and for every parent, carer, or educator supporting them. It is about understanding exam anxiety, taking it seriously, and — most importantly — knowing what to do about it. What Is Exam Anxiety, and Why Does It Happen? A certain level of nerves before an exam is not only normal — it can actually be helpful. Research in performance psychology distinguishes between eustress (positive, motivating stress) and distress (overwhelming, debilitating stress). A small amount of arousal activates focus and sharpens attention. The problem arises when that pressure tips into anxiety that interferes with sleep, concentration, memory, and emotional regulation. The American Psychological Association (APA) describes exam anxiety as a type of performance anxiety characterised by excessive worry, physical symptoms such as a racing heart, nausea, or headaches, and cognitive interference — meaning the brain becomes so preoccupied with fear of failure that it cannot access the knowledge it has already stored (APA, 2022). Studies suggest that exam anxiety affects between 25 and 40 per cent of students to a clinically significant degree (von der Embse et al., 2018), making it one of the most common challenges young people face in educational settings. It is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign that the nervous system is responding to a perceived threat — and it can be addressed. The Danger of Comparison One of the most damaging habits students fall into during exam season is comparing themselves to their peers. Social comparison theory, first proposed by psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954, suggests that humans have a natural tendency to evaluate themselves in relation to others — particularly when objective measures feel uncertain. During exams, this manifests as watching how much others seem to be revising, assuming that classmates understand more, or feeling behind because someone else appears calm. The reality is that everyone is managing their own private struggle. Nobody's external presentation tells the full story. Research by Vogel and colleagues (2014) found that upward social comparison — measuring yourself against those you perceive as doing better — is consistently linked to lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety. Reminding students that their only true measure is their own progress is not just kind. It is evidence-based. "💙 A note for students: Your journey is your own. The person next to you in the exam hall is not your benchmark. You are. " The Real Cost of Too Much Pressure There is a common belief that pressure improves performance — and in small doses, it does. But sustained, excessive pressure produces the opposite effect. The Yerkes-Dodson Law, a well-established principle in psychology, illustrates an inverted U-shaped relationship between arousal and performance: too little pressure and we disengage; too much and performance deteriorates sharply (Yerkes & Dodson, 1908). Beyond performance, chronic stress during exam periods has measurable effects on mental health. The charity Young Minds reported in their 2023 survey that 76 per cent of young people said that school and exam pressure was a significant contributor to their mental health difficulties. The NHS also acknowledges exam stress as a leading trigger for anxiety and low mood in adolescents. For parents and carers, it is worth reflecting on the messages — spoken and unspoken — that young people receive at home during this period. Asking 'How did it go?' carries different weight than asking 'Did you do your best?' Both questions are caring. But one places the emphasis on outcome; the other places it on effort and process. That shift matters. "💙 A note for parents and carers: The most supportive thing you can offer is a calm, low-pressure home environment. Your young person already knows the stakes. What they need from you is a safe place to land. " Practical Tips for Managing Exam Anxiety The following strategies are grounded in psychological research and can make a genuine difference, both in the lead-up to exams and on the day itself. 1. Regulate Your Breathing When anxiety rises, the body's fight-or-flight response activates, causing shallow, rapid breathing. Consciously slowing the breath signals safety to the nervous system. Diaphragmatic breathing — breathing deeply into the belly rather than the chest — has been shown to reduce cortisol levels and lower heart rate within minutes (Zaccaro et al., 2018). Try inhaling for four counts, holding for four, and exhaling for six. 2. Prioritise Sleep It can be tempting to stay up late revising, but sleep is when the brain consolidates memory. Research by Walker (2017) demonstrates that sleep deprivation significantly impairs the ability to retain and retrieve information. A consistent sleep routine in the weeks leading up to exams is one of the most effective revision strategies available — and one of the most overlooked. 3. Move Your Body Physical activity releases endorphins and reduces circulating stress hormones. Even a 20-minute walk has been shown to improve mood and cognitive performance (Ratey, 2008). Encourage students to build movement into their revision schedule rather than treating it as a luxury. 4. Break Revision Into Manageable Chunks The Pomodoro Technique — working in focused 25-minute intervals with short breaks — is backed by research on attention and cognitive load. Sustained, marathon revision sessions are less effective than shorter, spaced-out practice. The spacing effect, widely studied in cognitive psychology, demonstrates that information is retained far better when revisited over time rather than crammed in one sitting (Cepeda et al., 2006). 5. Challenge Catastrophic Thinking Anxiety often involves cognitive distortions — the brain telling us worst-case stories as if they are facts. Techniques from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) encourage challenging these thoughts by asking: 'What is the evidence for this? What is the most realistic outcome? What would I say to a friend thinking this way?' These simple questions can interrupt the anxiety spiral and restore perspective. 6. Talk About It Keeping anxiety bottled up intensifies it. Encouraging young people to name what they are feeling — to a parent, a friend, a teacher, or a counsellor — reduces its power. Research consistently shows that verbalising emotions activates the prefrontal cortex and reduces amygdala activity, essentially helping the thinking brain regain control from the reactive brain (Lieberman et al., 2007). "💙 Reminder: Seeking support is a sign of strength, not weakness. If exam anxiety is significantly affecting daily life, speaking to a GP or school counsellor is always a valid and worthwhile step. " A Final Word To every student sitting exams this season: you are more than your results. Exams measure one thing, at one moment in time, under a specific set of conditions. They do not measure your creativity, your empathy, your resilience, or your potential. Do your best — genuinely, wholeheartedly your best — and let that be enough. And for those of you who, like me, did not find school straightforward: your story is not over. It has barely begun. The love of learning does not have an expiry date, and the version of yourself you are growing into will surprise you. Good luck. We are rooting for every single one of you. 💙 References American Psychological Association. (2022). Exam anxiety. APA Dictionary of Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380. Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labelling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421–428. Ratey, J. J. (2008). Spark: The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain. Little, Brown and Company. Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-evaluation. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. von der Embse, N., Jester, D., Roy, D., & Post, J. (2018). Test anxiety effects, predictors, and correlates: A 30-year meta-analytic review. Journal of Affective Disorders, 227, 483–493. Walker, M. (2017). Why we sleep: Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams. Scribner. Yerkes, R. M., & Dodson, J. D. (1908). The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation. Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, 18(5), 459–482. Young Minds. (2023). Young minds mental health statistics. https://www.youngminds.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/mental-health-statistics Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., & Gemignani, A. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353. Life and Mind Coaching Academy Ltd | lifeandmindcoaching.com | Reg. No. 15561203 Your journey. Your way. 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