Helping matriculants manage exam stress

Good

morning, Africa, and good morning to all the listeners.

And thank you for having me.

I suppose exam stress is common.

It's common any other year.

But when you realize that 12 years of schooling culminates in the outcome of these examinations, understandably, those levels are heightened.

What practical strategies can learners use, do you think, if they find themselves panicking or going blank during an exam?

Well, Africa, some examination stress are completely normal.

However, it tells us that learners care about their performance.

And additionally, it becomes concerning when it starts affecting sleep, concentration, their appetite, or their ability to study.

My advice this morning to learners would be to not suffer in silence, to speak to a parent, a teacher, or someone that they trust.

Sometimes what learners or scholars need Most important is reassurance, a realistic study plan, and the knowledge that support is available to them.

We want our learners to feel challenged academically but not overwhelmed.

So when that stress does come, it does indeed manifest into different elements for our scholars as they prepare for their matriculant exit exams.

They do panic at times during these exams, so I do encourage them to follow three simple steps to not immediately assume that they've forgotten everything because post the exam some learners feel like they went blank to breathe, to take it slow before the examination starts but also to remember the routines that schools have put in place prior to this examination season.

We cannot stress enough, pun intended I suppose there, the importance of sleep, can we? Because A lot of learners in trying to, I suppose, catch up with lost time in their revision would often want to put in the extra hours, either sleep very, very late, which means early hours of the morning, or wake up far too early in order to put in those last few hours of revision.

That is not good for them in the end, is it? 100%.

But also it's very important for us to acknowledge that this is historical.

From when we were growing, from when we were still in high school, the belief or the underlying belief that cross-nighting assists with cognitive active recall.

But I always say that studying longer does not necessarily mean studying better.

Sleeping for our scholars is very, very essential in supporting their memory concentration and learning.

When our scholars eat properly and stay hydrated, And we also need to acknowledge that this summer is quite heat intensive, so hydration is very, very important.

Instead of studying long hours without stopping, our scholars need to start pacing themselves in multiple intervals, 30 minutes to 40 minutes, followed by a short break.

The goal is not simply to study hard, but also to study effectively.

A tired mind doesn't necessarily mean a prepared mind and that's what we inform our scholars at rock schools.