Whether this is your first year at university or your last, exam season can feel overwhelming. We are here to give you some tips to help prepare you to approach each exam with a healthy outlook. This post will focus on exam day panic, but we have more advice for exam season coming your way, so keep an eye out for other posts from this series!

We’ve all had that feeling, you open your exam paper and start to feel panic set in. 

Panic in exams is unpleasant (to say the least!), frightening, and interferes with your ability to produce effective answers. The ideal way for you to prepare involves advance relaxation and looking after yourself. We have plenty of tips for this on our website, however here we will focus on panic on the day, and how to combat it. 

What is exam panic? 

At some time or other most people experience panic and when this happens we notice changes in our body. These are a series of physical and emotional responses to excess anxiety or strain. The responses interfere with the achievement of immediate tasks. In an exam you may notice some of these bodily changes: 

• Nausea 

• Excessive sweating 

• Feeling too hot or too cold 

• Fast breathing 

• Stomach troubles 

You may also feel some of the following mental challenges: 

• Racing thoughts 

• Blocked thoughts 

• Becoming easily distracted 

• Feeling that you can’t concentrate 

• Feeling that your memory has been completely ‘wiped’ and you can’t remember anything 

Phew! I’m feeling panicked just writing about these things… 

These feelings really affect our ability to work, and the longer we sit looking at the paper, the worse we feel. 

When does this anxiety become unhelpful? 

We all need a certain amount of stress to push us to carry out tasks and want to do well. Many of us have felt the ‘buzz’ of anticipation of tackling and achieving difficult goals. Generally speaking, this alert and excited feeling can disappear when we feel overwhelmed, underprepared or we can’t see the purpose of what we are doing. The best way to prepare for this is to set up a good routine and revision strategies in advance. Part of this preparation is putting some practical things in place to carry out when you start to feel that panic creeping in on exam day. 

Stage 1: Panic Starting 

If you feel panic starting, allow yourself up to five minutes to deal with it. You may feel tense, so concentrate on trying to relax your muscles, use breathing to calm down. Here, the 54321 technique can be useful: 

5 | Name 5 things you can see 

Look around for 5 things you can see nearby. This could be the desk in front of you, or the carpet. Really pay attention to the details; colour, form and texture. Diverting your focus to your sense of sight can help to disrupt this cycle of panic. 

4 | Name 4 things you can hear 

Close your eyes and listen to the noises around you. This could be the sound of keys, someone breathing, or adjusting in their chair. Identifying these sounds help steer your mind away from internal thoughts and more towards the world around you, anchoring you in the present moment. 

3 | Name 3 things you can feel 

Concentrate on the sense of touch to further ground yourself. Become aware of three things you can feel. They could be the fabric of your clothes against your skin, the texture of an item you're holding, or the solidity of the floor under your feet.

2 | Name 2 things you can smell 

Start to identify two things you can smell. It could be the smell of the antibacterial used to clean your table, or the smell of your shampoo. 

1 | Name 1 thing you can taste 

Finally, focus on your sense of taste. You might want to take a sip of water, or simply focus on the lingering flavour of toothpaste in your mouth. Centring on this final sense completes the cycle and firmly brings you back to the present moment. 

This may be all you need to relax and carry on with your exam but if you still feel panicked, move onto stage 2, or if necessary, stage 3 

Stage 2: Identifying triggers 

Try to define the immediate trigger of anxiety. Can you approach the problem differently? If you still feel stuck, it may be worth it to try a new question and come back to this one later. Try not to focus on the panic itself, as you have already acknowledged that it is there. 

Stage 3: Try to relax your muscles again, and imagine something pleasant 

This time, try a breathing exercise if you're feeling overwhelmed.?Breathe in through your nose for 4 counts, hold it for 2 counts, and breathe out for 7 counts. Repeating this can help you feel calm. Read more about breathing exercises for stress. It may also be helpful before the exam to think about a place that helps you feel relaxed, so that if you get to this point in the exam, you can imagine the place again. You could even try the 54321 exercise, but with your chosen place. 

Once your mind is relaxed, bring it back to the immediate problem and just aim to do enough to get past the problem point, so that you are free to get on with other parts. 

Hopefully these tips will come in handy for your exams. You can also Get more advice about dealing with exam stress from the Young Minds website. 

Finally, if you need Personalised Assessment Arrangements for your exam, make sure to get in touch with student services to see how the college can support you. You can read more about Personalised Assessment Arrangements here. 

Best of luck!