3 Ways to reframe exam season this year
It’s here! The first exam season since 2019 is upon us and it’s pretty hard not to freak out. Whether you’re in Grade 9 or Grade 12, most of you have never written an exam before and it’s scary and stressful not to know what to expect. This exam season, we want you to remember that everyone is in the same boat and that there is SO much more to think about than simply focusing on your grades. This season, we want you to make it all about YOU. Here’s how!
1. Treat this exam season like an experiment
School is just an experiment to figure out what you like, what you don’t, how you learn best, and how you don’t - and so is exam season! Remember, no one has written an exam in THREE YEARS so we’re ALL rusty. Use this time to try new study techniques like highlighters and cue cards, and to try things like listening to instrumental music, studying with friends, or time-blocking your calendar. Make the goal of this exam season to learn something new about how YOU learn best. Remember, this isn’t your only exam season ever - life is kind of just a series of exams:) The more you can learn about yourself this time around, the better you’ll do in the future. Think of it as an investment:)
2. Focus on progress instead of perfection
BE PROUD OF YOURSELF! Seriously, you have come SO far since last exam season. You’ve learned new things, you’ve made mistakes (and learned from them), you’ve stressed out (and moved on!), you’ve laughed, cried and GROWN. This exam season I want you to celebrate all of the cool new things you’ve figured out and to walk into that exam ready to SHOW OFF how much you’ve progressed since the last time you’ve written an exam. Maybe you used to never prepare for an exam before, but this time you actually studied a bit! Maybe you usually feel so sick that you literally almost throw up when writing an exam, and this time around, you feel 5% more chill. Whatever progress you’ve made, find time to celebrate this exam season!
3.Use exams as an opportunity to become BFF with uncertainty!
Most people think that exam stress is caused by not preparing enough but there’s something we never talk about: most anxiety and stress is simply caused by UNCERTAINTY! We are never going to be 100% certain that we’ve studied enough or that we’ll know the answer to every single question on that exam paper. But guess what? That’s totally normal! The goal shouldn’t be to be 100% sure that you know everything, but instead, to get comfortable with the fact that there’s no WAY you’ll know if you know everything…until you get to that exam! Instead of making perfection your goal, focus on doing the best you can in any given moment, and get comfy with the fact that uncertainty is a part of life - especially when it comes to exams. Getting comfortable with uncertainty is a skill that will pay off in ALL aspects of life, so use this exam season to practice!
See our exam tips on the news!
Last week our founder Vanessa Vakharia chatted with Cat & Nat on Breakfast Television about how to reframe exam season! Watch the segment here!