Exam season. The two words that can turn a household upside down.
If you are a young person reading this mid-revision, I want to start by saying: what you are feeling right now is valid. The pressure is real. The stakes feel enormous. And the adults around you, however well-meaning, may be making it better or worse depending on how they are handling their own anxiety about your results.
If you are a parent reading this while trying to work out whether to say something about revision or keep quiet, I see you too. This is hard from both sides.
Let me start with what the evidence says about exam preparation and performance, because some of what young people (and their parents) believe about revision is wrong, and getting this right can make a genuine difference.
Sleep is not a luxury - it is the foundation of everything else. Memory consolidation happens during sleep. This means that staying up until midnight revising is actively counterproductive if it reduces your sleep. Eight to ten hours is the recommended range for teenagers, and this is not negotiable during exam season. The teenager who gets nine hours of sleep and does three hours of revision will outperform the teenager who gets five hours of sleep and does seven hours of revision. This is not a motivational platitude - it is neuroscience.
Active recall beats passive re-reading every time. Reading through notes feels productive. Highlighting feels productive. Making beautiful colour-coded revision cards feels productive. But none of these are as effective as testing yourself on the material. Close the book and try to write down everything you remember. Use flashcards where you have to produce the answer, not just recognise it. Do practice papers under timed conditions. This is uncomfortable because it exposes what you do not know - but that exposure is exactly what makes it effective.
Spaced repetition is more effective than cramming. Reviewing material at increasing intervals - today, then in three days, then in a week, then in a fortnight - creates stronger, more durable memories than reviewing everything the night before. If you are early enough in exam season, build this into your revision schedule. If you are not, do what you can with the time you have and stop beating yourself up about what you should have done earlier.
Movement matters. A 20-minute walk in the middle of a revision session is not wasted time. It improves blood flow to the brain, reduces cortisol, and enhances cognitive function for the revision session that follows. Sitting at a desk for six hours without moving is not disciplined - it is counterproductive.
Nutrition is not an afterthought. Your brain needs fuel - regular meals, adequate hydration, and a rough balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Skipping meals to revise is false economy. Energy drinks provide a spike followed by a crash and interfere with sleep. Water and regular food are boring but effective.
Now, about managing the anxiety itself. Some exam anxiety is normal and even helpful - a moderate level of arousal improves focus and performance. The problem comes when anxiety tips past the helpful point and starts to impair your ability to think clearly.
If you are feeling overwhelmed: break revision into small, specific, manageable tasks rather than staring at the entirety of what you need to know. Instead of “revise biology,” try “spend 25 minutes on cell division and then take a 5-minute break.” Small, defined tasks feel achievable. The Pomodoro technique (25 minutes of focused work, 5-minute break) works well for many people.
On the morning of an exam: eat something. Arrive with time to spare but avoid the group anxiety spiral outside the exam hall. Bring a grounding technique with you - slow breathing (in for four, out for six) works well and nobody can see you doing it. When you open the paper, read the whole thing before you start writing. Begin with a question you feel confident about. If you blank on something, move on and come back - the information is there, and reducing the pressure often allows it to surface.
If you experience panic during an exam: put your pen down. Plant both feet on the floor. Breathe slowly. The panic will pass - it always does, even though it does not feel like it will. You have not failed because you panicked. You have had a nervous system response to stress. When the panic subsides, pick up your pen and carry on.
For parents: your most important job during exam season is to provide a calm, stable, low-pressure home environment. This is harder than it sounds, because your own anxiety about your child's results is real and legitimate. But your child will absorb your emotional state. If you are visibly more anxious than they are, they will regulate to your level, not theirs.
Practical things parents can do: make food available without making it a battle. Keep the home routine stable and predictable. Ask “What would be helpful right now?” rather than “How is revision going?” Remind them that their worth is not determined by their results, and mean it. Be available without hovering. And if they are having a bad day, resist the urge to fix it - sometimes they just need you to sit with them in the difficulty.
Finally, a perspective that is easy to say and hard to believe when you are in the middle of it: exams are important, but they are not everything. There is no exam result that cannot be worked around, retaken, or compensated for by another route. People build successful, fulfilling lives from every combination of results. Your exam results will open some doors and close others, but they will not define you - and they are not worth destroying your mental health over.
Download the Study Hacks resources
If you would like a structured, evidence-based revision and exam strategy guide in a format young people can actually use, download the Study Hacks resources - available in general and neurodivergent editions.
You can find them on Activities and Tools.
Dr Victoria Froome
Integrative Psychotherapist | Dragonfly Psychotherapy
www.dragonflypsychotherapy.co.uk