How can we help students cope with the challenges of exams?
Whether you are a parent, educator or senior leader, no doubt you are asking yourself the question right now as to - how can we emotionally support our students and children to cope with the pressure of exams, particularly in these challenging times?
A pressurised work environment not only creates stress for many students but also leads to problems with sleep, work, focus as well as memory and recall. In this article, we will look at five top tips to help you best support those in your care and learn how a combined coaching and wellbeing approach can help students to not just survive, but in fact, to thrive and flourish during the tough exam season.
As a coach and educator, I’ve spent the last ten years guiding a multitude of students through the challenging exam process. This has meant that I’ve seen the highs, the lows and the in-betweens. What has intrigued me, however, is that there are always some students who will thrive during the process and others who will unwittingly self-sabotage themselves - to the extent that they miss out on grades that reflect both their true ability and their full potential.
This harsh reality (whereby often the most hard-working and kindest students struggled), both saddened and frustrated me, and led to me teaching students a range of techniques to breathe, believe and achieve: combining the best practices from coaching and wellbeing methods in order to help students thrive and perform at their best. In response to requests from students asking to have these lessons and guided meditations to practise in their own time, I created an online course to teach these techniques to students, as well as to parents and educators who seek ways to emotionally support pupils during exam time.
To summarise the main points, here are five key ways as to how you can best support the students in your care during exam season:
Set up a Successful Working Environment: Focused, Creative & Stress-free
Avoid putting the pressure on yourself to pre-empt what works best for your students. We are all so individual, that what works for you may well not work for someone else. Instead, ask them open coaching questions and listen to their responses. Allow them to explore their thoughts and the various possible options. Your role as to how you can best help and support them, then becomes much clearer.
For example, you could ask any of the following coaching style questions:
What does a good/ successful / healthy revision day look like to you?
(They could include in that description: best time to start work, most productive work location, how to know when to stop and take a break, eat meals etc…)
What challenges might you face in the daytime? How can you overcome them?
How do you feel about discussing your revision or exams with other people?
How can you maintain healthy boundaries during this time (eg. saying “no” to people or situations that demand great reserves of time or energy)?
What can we do to best support you during this time?
2. Why the Need to Take Time Out from Revision?
Time and again, whilst I was working as a housemistress in a boarding house, I would see students refusing to take much time out from their studies, and if they did, it was often to discuss the material they had been studying and to share how stressed they were feeling at the thought of impending exams. The importance of purposeful and elective relaxation opportunities seemed alien to some and was viewed as a waste of time.
However, as Shawn Achor, previously freshman proctor at Harvard and writer of The Happiness Advantage, writes:
“When your brain conceives of family dinner, Sudoku… or a phone call with a friend as a ‘waste of time’, it won’t be able to reap its inherent benefits. But if you change the fulcrum so that you conceive of free time as a chance to learn and practice new things, to recharge your batteries and connect with others, you’ll be able to leverage the power of that rest time and return stronger than before.”
It’s highly important therefore, that students are consciously taking time out from their studies, not just because it feels good, but also due to the importance of relaxation in order to allow their minds to process the material they have just been revising. When teaching this point to students, I often make the comparison of having just eaten a large meal - the last thing we wish to do straight afterwards is to keep eating, and so we give our stomachs time to digest the food. Just as our stomachs are a vital organ, so too are our brains, and it only makes sense therefore to allow our minds time to process the material that has just been revised.
3. How Well are they Sleeping during Exam Time?
It is understandably very common for students to experience problems with sleep during this time, with cases of insomnia seen in some of those who struggle the most. The signs of this are clear in how different they seem to their normal selves, and especially with how this affects their cognitive ability. It might seem a good idea to pull an all-nighter to get the revision done in time, but the effect on memory and recall is significant. If you notice that their work quality is decreasing or they are more forgetful than usual, then do ask questions about how much quality sleep they are getting each night. In addition, whilst it could benefit them to work late and rise later than normal, are they ready to be alert and awake on the days they have morning exams?
To help with sleep issues, a good routine is key and there are a multitude of sleep aids available now, from calming meditations and pillow sprays, to breathing apps and sleep supplements. If you’d like more information on this, feel free to read my blog post, ‘How Can I Sleep Better?’ or try a guided sleep meditation.
4. Are they Consuming Healthy and Nutritious Food and Drinks?
This can be such a basic element of a healthy and thriving exam programme, but one that is so often overlooked. It’s easy to fall into bad habits when we’re tired and worn out, and to reach for the quickest source of fuel - whether this be long or short-lasting. One of the best ways to help students maintain good energy levels, therefore, is to ensure that healthy snacks and drinks are plentiful and especially to encourage them to stay away from the ever-popular energy drinks, which will only induce a caffeine and sugar spike and then a massive low - thus making concentration and focus very difficult to attain.
I saw the effects of this first-hand when I worked in a boarding house and at bedtime, as I was saying “goodnight” to the students, I noticed one boy in particular was very alert and hyperactive and he had just consumed a whole bottle of energy drink. When I suggested he stop drinking it, so he could settle down to sleep soon, he became very aggressive in his manner and unlike his usual more gentle self. The following morning we discussed the situation in a calmer fashion and he was not only apologetic for his manner but also shocked at the strong effect the drink had had on him and how different it had made him behave.
5. What are your Students doing to Proactively Cope with Stress Levels?
What coping mechanisms do they have? And how effective are they? The answer to this question lies in how calm they are on a day-to-day basis. If you notice that your students are fractious, nervous and on edge much of the time, then no doubt they are struggling to cope well and their bodies are stuck in the flight, fight or freeze mode, with adrenaline and cortisol pumping around them. The most extreme cases I’ve seen of this are when students have a severe physical reaction to stress levels, and this comes out in the form of rashes, hives or shaking of hands or legs. The good news is that these symptoms can be easily relieved with effective relaxation techniques. Those I’ve used with students to best effect include yoga, guided meditations, hypnotherapy, EFT and mindfulness. It depends very much on the student as to which type they prefer best but this can be quickly established with a brief trial of each form of stress-relief.
