It’s coming up to that time of year, when our children are getting ready to sit their GCSe’s, A’Levels or university exams. If your child is getting stressed and anxious at the thought of taking their exams, then help is at hand. The worst thing is when we know our children have studied really hard and have revised all they can and yet on the day, they don’t manage to do their best as their nerves take over and they end up feeling so wobbly and anxious that they don’t perform as well as they could have done. At the A’Level or university stage, this can feel even more scary as so much is often riding on the results of the exam.
Three Secrets to Overcoming exam nerves:
- Ensure that the day before, you don’t over do it with revision. Do the last bits then rest. Eat properly, and make sure you get an early night.
- The day before the exam, mentally rehearse success! Close your eyes and imagine yourself in the exam room, turning over the paper and being calm and focused. Imagine working through the paper with ease, confidently writing all the answers and finishing in good time. Repeat this several time and before you go to bed. This will help to programme your mind to expect the best and be calm and focused.
- On the day, get to the exam room in good time. As you sit waiting to begin, take some nice deep slow breaths in through your nose, pushing out your abdomen as you do so and out through your mouth, pulling your abdomen in. Slowly repeat this 5 or 6 times. Breathing deeply in this way will help to calm those last minute anxieties.
If you feel that your child would benefit from learning effective tools to overcome exam anxiety so that they can control their nerves on the day, and enable them to therefore perform at their best, then please contact me as soon as possible on via my contact form.
As an ex- Secondary School Teacher (who holds an enhanced CRB check), I understand first hand the frustrations and disappointment that children experience when they come out of an exam feeling that their nerves have got the better of them and that they haven’t done their best as a result. This type of anxiety can be managed and overcome with simple to learn techniques from NLP and Hypnotherapy. These techniques are an investment in your child’s future and will go with them for the rest of their educational and professional lives. I can work with your teenager in person (Sutton, Surrey based) or virtually via zoom.