How to cope with exam stress

When young people feel good about themselves, they’re more likely to face the challenges of exam time confidently. You can find lots of tips for helping to build your child’s self-esteem and resilience here. 

We all have different ways of coping with stress – some healthy, some not so! Encourage them to find something healthy that works for them, whether that’s breathing exercises, mindfulness, talking to someone about their worries, heading outdoors or putting on some music and dancing! 

There are lots more suggestions on NHS Inform’s Mind to Mind website – maybe you could have a look at this together. 

These articles on exam stress from Mind and YoungMinds may also be helpful for them.

Building a routine that balances work and rest will really help your teen through this challenging time. So try to encourage them to make a plan that allows time for seeing family and friends, a bit of exercise, healthy meals and plenty of sleep as well as study. Planning their days should help prevent last minute, panics and help them stay calmer.

When young people are revising, it can be very tempting from them to nibble on biscuits and crisps and glug down energy drinks! Try to discourage this and suggest some healthier options they could try, like nuts, seeds, fruit, yoghurt or herbal tea, along with the occasional treat of course! And try to make sure they have three healthy meals a day, at regular times. 

You can find lots of easy, cheap, nutritious recipes for meals and snacks in our recipe section.

Try to ensure that they take regular breaks from studying to move around, maybe give the body a good shake to release tension, or try some stretching exercises (have a look on YouTube for some inspiration). 

If the weather isn’t too awful, a bit of time outside in the fresh air can work wonders for clearing the head and can also give them a much-needed energy boost. 

It’s a good idea to encourage your teen to relax and unwind before they go to bed – this will help them sleep better. You could suggest they do something that doesn’t involve looking at a screen, like listening to music or a podcast, or doing some gentle bedtime yoga or meditation. Take a look at Young Scot’s mindfulness playlist on YouTube for some more ideas.

If you can, encourage them to make their bedrooms a device-free zone before they go to sleep, to avoid the temptation of late night notifications.

Did you know that most teens need 8-10 hours sleep a night? Sleep helps their brain sort out what they’re learning, link it all together and form memories, so it’s just as important as studying.

In particular, encourage them to get a good night’s sleep the night before an exam – if they stay up trying to cram extra info into their heads, they won’t be able to concentrate properly the next day.

Our page of sleep tips for older children and teens has more advice.

Of course you want your kid to do well in their exams. But putting too much pressure on them can backfire if it makes them too stressed to concentrate and work. Instead of talking about how important the exams are, let them know you love them and are proud of them for trying, no matter what happens. 

Nobody likes exams, so if they’re feeling stressed or upset, it’s good to remind them that they’re not alone, and that this time will pass.

We’re all good at different things, and we all learn and study in different ways too, so try not to compare them to their friends or brothers or sisters, or to yourself when you were their age. 

This quiz from the Open University helps you work out your study style – you could both try it together and see if you learn in different ways.

This will give them something to look forward to and remind them that there’s life after the exams!

If they’re worried that failing their exams will ‘ruin their life’, try to help them put things into perspective. You could remind them that they can always resit their exams, and that there are lots of different ways into work and a career – there’s no ‘wrong path’. 

It may help to have a look at the following website together and together – this may help them realise there’s more to life than exams:

• My World of Work school leavers’ toolkit 
• The careers guide on BBC Bitesize
• #NoWrongPath

If they’re always putting off their revision, it may be because they don’t know how to start. Making a timetable and looking at different ways to revise may help (see tips 4 and 5 above) – but try to make sure that colouring in a fancy chart doesn’t become another way of putting off actual revising!

If you find your teen ends up feeling frustrated, anxious or wound up when they try to revise, try our tips for helping them cope with exam stress further up the page. For example, you could suggest they start their study session with some simple breathing exercises like these ones on the Mind to Mind website.

Chances are your teen has a huge list of things they’d rather be doing than revising. So make sure they plan in time to do fun things so they have something to look forward to. Then try to make them to switch off their phone and/or games console while they’re working. 

In this case, talking to them about what they’re going to do when they leave school may help motivate them. Remind them that the skills needed to pass exams – like focus, discipline and organisation – will help them in any walk of life.