The struggle is real - exams are stressful for everyone.

For most students, this stress is an unpleasant but manageable part of the process whilst for others it can be a positive factor, helping to give them the sense of urgency needed to reach their zone of optimal performance when it matters.

But for some students, exam anxiety can lead to an invasion of ANTs - automatic negative thoughts. These are worrying thoughts which turn up when they shouldn't and which you can't seem to stop. They are often focussed on the future and the consequences of 'failing' a test but can also dwell on the past, remembering times when an exam did not go well.

Of course, everyone has thoughts like this at times, but when they become persistent (you can't stop them) and intrusive (they turn up when you should be thinking about something else entirely) they can cause problems.

It is important that you know that there are things you can do to control these thoughts - welcome to anti-ANTs!

Anti-ANTs - managing exam anxiety

Anti-ANTs strategy #1: Enjoy the view.

Think about your assessments realistically.

1. You never need to get 100% (or anything close to it!).

2. It never matters how many points other people score. In fact, having a friend who is really good at something is great news - you can ask them for help!

3. Identify the level of performance that you really need (rather than what you want, expect or feel you have to achieve to make someone else happy).

A good way to visualise this is to think about the exam as a mountain. You don't need to get to the top, but you should work hard to get as high as you can in the time you have. Wherever that gets you, enjoy the view!

Remember:

- the mountain is not the same for everyone. If someone else is getting higher than you this may be because it is not as steep for them. For example, algebra is a steep mountain for me but some of my friends find it easy.

- some mountains are more important than others. If you want to be a Psychologist (of course you do!) then maybe you should invest more time and effort in climbing that mountain. This might mean you don't reach as high as you could have done in another subject, but that might be a smart distribution of effort - good choice!

- nobody needs to get to the top. It is cool to get as high as you can and you should feel proud of your achievements (enjoy the view!) but it is never necessary to get 100%. Not even trainee doctors in medical school need to be right all the time (although they do need to be right a lot. I bet they suck at poetry though!)

There are things you can do (or avoid doing) to stay calm.

1. Start Early. Evidence suggests that spaced learning is the best way to memorise information and we know that repeated purposeful practice is the best way to perfect any skill. This means you should start creating flashcards and using them to self test (active recall) from the start of your course. This will help to build a sense of confidence (as well as boosting your recall of important facts) which should help you stay calm at exam time. In simple terms, you are less likely to worry that you might 'go blank' if you have proven to yourself that you can remember what you need many times before.

2. Sleep well. 'Pulling an all-nighter' is a terrible idea for all sorts of reasons. Most obviously, your brain doesn't work as well when you are tired. This is partly because sleep deprivation (sleeping less than you need to) leads to an increase in the neuro-hormone cortisol. This interferes with the ability of your hippocampi to retrieve information from your memory. This is of course stressful if it happens, but being stressed leads to a much more dramatic increase in cortisol, which makes your memory worse, which makes you more stressed, which ... well, you get the idea. Establish consistent habits when you go to bed - same time, same routine, no screens for at least an hour. You should also leave the alarm clock out of view (so you don't start calculating how much sleep you would get if you fell asleep ... NOW) and turn your phone off.

3. Don't cram. Trying to revise on the day of the exam seems like a good idea, but realistically, one of two things happen:
a) you review material you already know well (i.e. waste of time and effort)
b) you review something you don't know well. This is not likely to improve in the last few hours, but it is likely to make you stressed. Basically, this is asking for an army of ANTs to march straight into your brain at the worst possible moment.

4. Avoid the crowd. Students tend to form a mob outside the exam room. "Did you revise this?" "Do you think this will come up". Very stressful. ANTs everywhere. The worst case scenario is that some idiot asks if you revised something which wasn't actually covered in the course but you walk into the exam freaking out because you have never heard of it. The idiot stays calm and does well, ANT's stop you from remembering content you had prepared well and you don't get the grade you need. Avoid this by staying away from the crowd. Sit quietly and focus on staying calm.

5. Choose well. IB exams always have 5 minutes of thinking time before you can start writing. Use this time to skim read the whole exam to actively identify the questions you feel most confident about and answer those questions first. This focuses your attention on what you can do instead of that question you were really hoping wouldn't be there, thereby helping to keep ANTs at bay. It also avoids the situation where you get bogged down on something hard and then run out of time before starting a question you could have answered perfectly.

Anti-ANTs strategy #2: Stay Calm

Anti-ANTs strategy #3: Calm Down

If things don't go to plan and some ANTs creep in, your main task is to calm down. Don't 'push on' if you know you are already spiralling - it will just get worse. Take a few moments to concentrate on deep breaths in, deep breaths out and then look for a question you feel you can answer.

1. Become a Jedi. Like a Jedi Master, you can learn to control your breathing rate and pulse. This will help to reduce cortisol levels and therefore allow your memory to start working properly again. Everyone can learn to do this, but it takes time and practice. Get some advice early (i.e. months before your exams), try at least three different techniques and then start practising the techniques which work best for you.