Study Zen: 5 ways your teen can control exam-time stress
5 common exam-time stressors and how to bust them.
Let’s not sugar coat. Sitting exams isn’t a teenager’s idea of heaven.
Stress. Pressure. Anxiety.
Good times.
Sometimes, a little bit of pressure can light a fire underneath students and motivate them to head to their study desk. But once this pressure starts turning into stress and anxiety, that can have really negative impact on students and their study.
If you have a teenager who is struggling to study effectively despite having tonnes of potential, I’m probably preaching to the choir.
I hear a lot of common struggles from teenagers about what stresses them out, so I thought I would put together this list of 5 common stress-causing complaints, and set out my practical solutions for each one.
Here we go.
#1 I’m not going to fit everything in
When students embark on their exam study, it’s incredibly common for them to feel like their head will explode when they try and figure out how on Earth they’re going to study everything they need to in the short amount of time they have to prepare.
Solution: Make an Exam Study Timetable
An Exam Study Timetable is one of my most favourite study tools.
Not only does it tell you what and when to study, it provides almost immediate stress relief.
Having a timetable down on paper takes the how-am-I-going-to-fit-everything-in stress out of your head.
And once it’s made, productive study becomes a matter of sticking to the timetable, rather than having to figure out what and when to study every day.
You can download an Exam Study Timetable Template for your teen to use, along with full instructions, here.
What my Exam Study Timetable used to look like. Being specific about what you’re going to study when is the key to making it useful.
#2 I don’t know where to start
I think this is perhaps the most common obstacle that prevents students from starting studying in the first place.
If you have a daunting task ahead of you and you don’t know how to approach that task, that is an excellent recipe for stress and procrastination.
If you were going on a road trip and you didn’t know where you were going or where any of the stops were, you might find yourself still sitting in the driveway an hour later.
Solution: Make a Subject Map
The complaint of “I don’t know where to start” usually means, “I don’t know what I should be studying”.
This is why I always suggest that one of the first things teenagers do when they start their exam study is to make Subject Maps.
A Subject Map is essentially a thorough breakdown of each subject your teen has an exam for.
They provide students with a map for the journey of exam study ahead.
Because a Subject Map provides a detailed list of everything your teen needs to study, it basically eliminates the issue of not knowing where to start.
Your teen can simply work their way through their Subject Maps systematically, thereby guaranteeing they study everything they need to before the exam.
The practical benefits of Subject Maps result in massive stress-relief. The time it takes for your teen to make their Subject Maps is more than made up for by the time they will save by being more organised, productive, and less stressed.
You can download the Subject Map Template with full instructions for your teen here.
#3 There isn’t enough time!
There never seems to be enough time when you’re studying for exams. There is usually a huge amount of work to revise and not a lot of time to do it in, maybe only a few weeks.
This can, understandably, cause students to feel extremely stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed.
And feeling like that can make anyone, and especially teenagers, want to curl up in a ball and avoid starting at all costs.
I call this feeling motivation-itis, and it often leads to study inertia. Feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to start.
Solution: Just start. Just start now.
Today is good.
Regardless of how much time your teen has left, the best thing they can do for themselves is to just get going.
Linking back to #2 above, I do think that starting studying is one of the hardest parts, so the best thing your teen can do if they’re feeling overwhelmed is to just do something to start.
One of the best sources of motivation is momentum.
Moving from stationary to first gear is hard, but once you start moving and gaining momentum, studying starts to feel a lot easier.
If they’re really struggling to get going, you can suggest they start with a subject/topic that they enjoy or find easier. This will allow them to at least start, get some momentum, and then once they’ve settled in they can approach the more difficult topics.
#4 There’s just too much pressure!
Some students — as you may know all too well — put way too much pressure on themselves when it comes to exams. This is where you come in.
Solution: Perspective and reassurance
We expect a lot from teenagers.
Five minutes ago they were just little kids, and then all of a sudden they’ve got exams and are basically told that it they don’t do well they’ll be a failure with no future prospects.
Yes, exams are stressful and yes, they’re important, but perspective here is important too.
No one needs to get ‘perfect grades’. No one gets ‘straight A’s.
A few less-than-ideal results here and there are very unlikely to alter the course of your teen’s future.
There is life after high school.
I would much rather your teen focus on putting in consistent effort with their study and giving exams their best shot.
Your teen can only control the amount of effort they put in; ultimately, they can’t completely control the grades they end up getting.
All I’m saying is that sometimes a bit of perspective can be helpful and stress-reducing.
We can all get caught up in things during times of pressure and stress, and it’s really easy for teenagers to get so focused on results that they lose sight of everything else.
#5 I don’t know what to do
Coming from a teen facing exams, this statement usually means “I don’t know how to study”.
This is such a common issue for high school students — particularly during their first year of proper exams.
In fact this is why I felt like I had no choice but to start Cram Lab. I couldn’t sit by and watch as so many teenagers struggled through high school because they didn’t have the study skills they desperately needed.
If your teen doesn’t know how to study, it’s not their fault. Chances are, no one has ever told them.
Solution: Figure out what your predominant Learning Style is and start from there
My ultimate mantra here at Cram Lab is that we all study and learn most effectively in a unique way. The same study techniques that will help your teen get the grades they are actually capable of might be totally wrong for another student.
Your teen needs to develop their own Study System, which is the process or method they follow to prepare for exams.
A Study System is made up of all of the study techniques that work for each individual student.
If your teen doesn’t know where to start, they can find out what their predominant Learning Style is, and start trying out the study techniques associated with that Learning Style.
You can share my Learning Styles Quiz with your teen to kick-start their Study System right now. Simply sign up here and I’ll email you the link.
As with all of Cram Lab’s study tips, you can see that these solutions are practical rather than complex. That is because effective study does NOT need to be complex, or only come to students who get straight A’s (which almost no one gets!).
Of course studying for exams is going to be stressful at times, but it doesn’t need to be as stressful as it is for so many teens.
I hope these practical tools will allow your teen to take control of their study and their stress levels, and work towards getting the grades they’re actually capable of.
Happy studying,
Clare x
