How can stress affect us during exam time?
“Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.” Hans Selye
Everyone’s experience of exams is different, and we know that preparing for and sitting exams can be overwhelming. Our reaction to testing can induce anxiety. This could then trigger a stress response that can lead to disrupted sleep patterns, tiredness, irregular eating habits, excessive worry, anxiety and the inability to focus. This is where a mindful approach can help.
What is Mindfulness?
“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally,” says Jon Kabat-Zinn who brought mindfulness to the western world and introduced mindfulness programs to mainstream institutions such as medicine, health care and schools.
Cultivating mindfulness is about training your attention to notice your thoughts, feelings, sensations, and anything around you that is happening right now, without judging them. By doing this, you step away from automatic responses and observe what it means to be in the present with an open mind. This can help you to make better, more skillful decisions.
How does mindfulness work?
“You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” Jon Kabat-Zinn
There are several ways that we can bring mindfulness into our lives.
- Firstly, by doing simple practices, (meditations) which allow us to focus, find our anchor and ground ourselves in the present.
- Secondly start living everyday life more mindfully, living less on automatic pilot, noticing, and taking in the present with more of a ‘here and now’ approach. Learn to be curious about what we notice in the present moment and that we can observe without judging or forming an opinion.
- Finally understanding the research that supports the neuroscience of mindfulness practice.
Understanding stress and our reactions
When we feel threatened by something physical, the most primal part of our brain, the amygdala, sets off the alarm signals for our bodies to respond and either run away (flight), stay, and defend ourselves (fight) or play dead (freeze). It signals to the hypothalamus to release adrenaline and cortisol and off we go. This process happens before our logical, conscious mind has even noticed. This part of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) doesn’t get a seat at the table – the body takes care of it. This is very useful when facing a tiger. It is less useful for exams. Our brain doesn’t detect the difference between physical threat and emotional threat, so will fire off the same alarm signal whether facing a tiger or doing homework. (Pocket Guide to Mindfulness, Amy Malloy - Pearson)
So how can mindfulness practice help with exams?
Studies indicate that it helps in two main ways, especially when it comes to exams.
- It helps to increase the density in the front of your brain. This is the part of the brain associated with memory, your ability to solve problems and to manage distraction.
- It helps us to manage strong or difficult emotions. Feeling some stress and anxiety around exams is natural and, indeed, can help boost performance. It’s when this becomes too much that it becomes a problem. Mindfulness helps to calm activity in the bit of your brain associated with worry.
Anticipatory worry – finding our anchor
“I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” Mark Twain
Anticipatory worry is the anxiety we feel when we have an event or challenge coming up that we know will make us anxious and therefore fear.
In the run up to the exam, during the actual exam and even after the exam whilst waiting for the results we can experience moments of overwhelm – where our mind can shut down or we just panic. It’s important to start noticing the patterns that are evident to us which act as an alarm bell (butterflies in tummy, tenseness around the shoulders) warning signs that we are anxious. By anchoring ourselves in the present moment, worries tend to ease, and we will notice that we feel more grounded and calmer. Here are some steps to practice finding your anchor:
- Close your eyes or stare at the ground without focusing on anything.
- Take a few deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
- Notice what happens to your muscles as you do this.
- Observe the weight of your feet against the floor. Notice what the contact feels like.
- Observe the sounds around you in the room. Allow them to come and go without labelling them.
- Observe your breath going in at the nose and out again through the nose.
- Then bringing our attention to a physical anchor. This may be focusing on the body, the breath, or even using the senses to observe sounds, sights, tastes, touch etc. in our external environment.
- Take a few deep breaths, grow aware of your contact with the ground again.
- Open your eyes and notice how you feel.
"The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness" Abraham Maslow
Growth Mindset
"We can practice a growth mindset in our learning by reminding ourselves
‘I can’t do this YET, but I will be able to if I practice’" Carol Dweck
Do you see a glass half-full or half-empty? It depends on our mindset! Mindfulness attitudes such as curiosity can help us notice our mindset. Research by Dr Carol Dweck in the USA shows that a fixed mindset means you have a fixed belief about your intelligence and ability and do not believe it can change, whereas a growth mindset means you believe your intelligence and ability can be developed through hard work and persistence.
A growth mindset can be beneficial for students during exam time because it helps them to view challenges and mistakes as opportunities for learning and growth, rather than as failures. Having a growth mindset can reduce stress and anxiety, which can help students to perform better in exams. Encourage your students to adopt a growth mindset by praising their efforts and progress, rather than their innate abilities. Help them to understand that intelligence is not fixed but can be developed through hard work and persistence. Provide learners opportunities to take risks and learn from their mistakes. Remind them that failure is not a setback but a step towards success.
Negativity bias – let’s look at the positives of exam taking
"To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try." - Rosa Parks
Our brains are hard-wired to remember negative experiences and quickly forget positive experiences. We tend to allow positive, pleasant experiences and thoughts to slide off and go by unnoticed, whilst the unpleasant, negative experiences and thoughts stick and receive a lot of our attention. The more we focus on the negative things, the stronger the feeling of anxiety becomes. This makes us feel worse and can make us more likely to do poorly on the test. Mindful awareness can be a way to become more aware of the pleasant and the positive.
As we're experiencing our day, notice and memorise the details of what's going on around us. Create a memory of the experience. Make the experience sensory by noticing what is around us, the sounds we hear, the smells in the air the feeling of warmth or cold. Noticing these sensory details helps us live fully in the moment and can help evoke the pleasant.
Another way to stay on a positive track is to surround ourselves with positive motivational quotes, put posters in your classroom or around the house. Focusing on the positive aspects of exam taking – all the emotions that we have governed in that process have contributed to the forming of life skills and that therefore has built our resilience for similar situations in the future.
Promoting a Sense of Calm during Revision
An organised and mindful approach to revision will help ease the stress that comes with the exam period. These tips are designed to help your students create a calm revision space around them.
- Encourage students to include extra-curricular activities, family commitments and other important tasks in their revision timetables. Breaking up long revision periods with other events will also help make the exam period seem less overwhelming.
- With technology and social media such a major part of our lives, and often a source of stress or anxiety for a lot of people, it’s a good idea to introduce a social media detox during revision periods. Encourage students to switch off their phones, or move them to another room, during timetabled revision sessions. It will help remove the temptation of distraction and focus their minds.
- ‘Little and often’ beats cramming. Short, regular revision sessions are far more effective than spending hours trying to cram. By allocating 15-minute blocks to a particular topic or subject, students will be better engaged and motivated.
- Positive reflection really helps to think about how successful each revision session was. At the end of each session, encourage students to list five things they’ve learnt, three things they’ll confidently remember and three things that they’re still unsure about. When they return to their notes for further revision, they can focus on filling in the knowledge gaps.
- Keep things in perspective. Remind your students that whilst exams and qualifications are stepping-stones to their future, they are not the be all and end all. There will always be options and alternative pathways that they can explore at school, and in later life.
go.pearson.com/healthyhappyschools
Being kind to yourself
Exam preparation can be a stressful time, so it’s important to take some time out regularly to be kind to yourself: to recharge your batteries, give your brain some breathing space, and acknowledge all the good preparatory work you’re putting in. Take regular breaks and enjoy some ‘downtime’ with your friends and family to help recharge.
A bit of anxiety is good
Anxiety isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can motivate us and help us stay alert, make us aware of risks and motivate us to solve problems. The way we experience stress is simply our body getting us ready to take on the challenge. A stress response is helpful as it can increase oxygen to the brain and improve attention, focus, energy, and determination. Stress can stimulate our immune system and it is there to help you deal with difficult situations by making our brain sharper and giving our bodies more energy.
Confidence and language learning
Learning a new language, especially English, requires stepping out of your linguistic comfort zone. It can significantly boost your self-esteem and self-confidence. People with a lower level of proficiency often feel that better English would make them happier in life. The process of learning a language is empowering, and every new word learned, and every conversation understood serves as a milestone, reinforcing the learner's belief in their abilities.
The confidence gained from improving language skills can extend to work and other areas of life, motivating you to take on challenges you may have previously avoided. Essentially, the process of learning a language not only leads to proficiency but also personal growth. This creates a positive feedback loop where increased confidence results in even greater language skills, which, in turn, fosters more confidence. (How English empowers your tomorrow Pearson March 2024)
“Enjoy the experience, don’t just experience the experience.” David Cook
Referenze iconografiche: Cast Of Thousands/Shuterstock