How To Handle Finals Stress

Personally, I'm not the kind of person worrying too much about my finals because I've good grades and I know I will pass my exams if I study. However, I also know a lot of people who are already bypassing the healthy finals nerves and have turned into some kind of real life wrecking ball. I do understand that it's not easy for everyone to pass their exams and even if you have good grades, you still want to get the best out of yourself. However, too much stress might result in the opposite of good grades. This is why I decided to help some of you out today with a little anti-stress guide for your finals!

Have a break
This doesn't sound like die-hard learning to get the best grades, but honestly, your marks will be much better if you take a break every once in a while. Studying too long at once is very ineffective and will only give you more stress since you feel like you can't remember everything. If you take a (small) break every 2 hours, your mind has the chance to let the information sink and is ready to take in the next set of skills. Because of this you also feel like your actually remember the things you (are trying to) learn which reduces your stress.

Plan, plan, plan
This is something I still need to learn, but planning is a must for your finals. Once you have finished your planning and actually stick to it, you will feel more confidence about knowing everything in time.

Study Buddy
Learn for a difficult test with a friend. You can ask each other difficult questions and learn from each other and get new insights while relaxing.

Search for a silent place 
This is not always possible, but try to find an empty and silent place somewhere. It might be in your fathers office, in your public library, in your garden or in your bedroom. It is much more efficient to learn in a silent place because you have a smaller chance to get distracted. At the same time this will give your mind some peace.

Have fun afterwards
Plan some nice and fun things after your finals to look forward to and keep this in your mind while studying. Or order that shirt you always wanted to purchase from that online shop. It will probably arrive somewhere during your exams so you have something to look forward to and once you get it you feel happy as well.

Have some time for yourself
Plan some relaxing time for yourself each day. Even if it's just to put on a facial mask, or read your favorite book. The best thing is to go to bed early and do this activity then because you will need enough sleep to stay fit, but you also have some time to let everything sink into your mind and just chill without worrying about getting back to your books.

The last minutes before your exams start
The last minutes before your exams start, don't revise the theories, but relax and talk to your friends. You can learn the evening before, the morning on the day of your test, but don't. revise. right. before. your. exams. start. Because of your nerves you might not remember everything perfectly and revising the learning material will only make you think that you don't know anything while you basically do know it. Once your exams start your nerves will likely calm down and you will actually know it. 

Have faith!
Something really important is to believe in yourself. Don't give up in advance but do everything you can do to succeed and don't worry too much about failure because for every thought about failure you can remember less study material.

Talk to someone
If your mind is really eating your entire body, make sure to talk to someone in time. It might be a good friend, your mother or a trusted person. Often talking to someone and releasing all your emotions and stress helps you to start fresh and feel less worried. Also they might reassure you about your abilities. 

During your exams
It's really important to plan during your exams as well. Are there 30 questions you must accomplish in 2 hours and are you at question 6 after hour 1? Then you should probably think faster and skip questions if you don't know them immediately. After you have filled in everything you know go back to the questions you skipped and you have at least made the questions you did know. Also don't check how far other people are because it will only slow you down.

Right before your test starts it is also nice just to relax. Think about something relaxing, for example your past summer holiday. It doesn't matter where you think about, just think about something very very focused, so you will forget everything else for a minute. 

So, that was it for my tips. Do you have your finals this year as well? I wish you a lot of luck and success!! My IB finals for English were yesterday and the day before, next week my regular Dutch finals will start and continue to do so for three weeks. Also make sure to tell your best anti-stress tips in the comments for the people in need!