Finding the best ways to take stress out of testing time for all

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EXAM season is looming and for teenagers fit can be a time of intense stress.

Everything seems to hang in the balance as youngsters feel the pressure to succeed.

Psychology teacher Selina O’connor says the stress can be three or even four-pronged.

She said: “Some students will put a lot of pressure on themselves to do well.

“Then there is pressure from parents, pressure from teachers as well as the added pressure of seeing comments about how exams aren’t as tough as they used to be.”

She continued: “The accusations about exams getting easier have been going back years.

“But every time there is a change the questions alter so you are still being tested to the same level, just in a different way.”

Without trying to lay extra pressure on your teenager, but still offer them help, how can you support your teenager?

She said: “First of all, talk to their teacher. All students are different, so some might need to be just left alone to get on with it, some might need a kick up the bum, while others actually need to be told not to work so hard!”

She recommends some simple basics like ensuring your teenager eats healthily, gets enough rest and makes time for exercise, fresh air and hobbies.

“You need to be rested with a healthy mind and a healthy body to succeed in exams,” she said. “You can’t possibly perform your best if you haven’t got the basics right.”

And for those of us who were brought up to believe that revising was all about reading back over your notes, or condensing your notes down, she has a bit of a revelation for us!

“If your teenager is sitting with earphones in or on Messenger to their friends, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not working,” she revealed. “They could be discussing a theory that they’re really struggling to learn, and a friend could explain it in a different way which really helps them.

“As for earphones, we teach students these days to revise in whatever way works for them. “Revising has always been difficult – who ever really learns exactly how to revise? So we try to come up with fun techniques to make it fresh.” She suggests making up card games like pairs or writing quizzes for each other, adding: “For some people, condensing notes onto flash cards works, but for a lot of students there needs to be an element of fun in their revision. “But it’s unrealistic to expect them to give up Netflix for a couple of months or disable their Facebook account. “That sort of thing can cause a lot of conflict, which you really don’t need at that time.”