With exam season looming, millions of children across the UK will be beginning to feel the stress of upcoming tests.

Students are often under pressure from an early age to succeed, with the repercussions of under-achieving feeling incredibly significant.

Here, the education training experts at High Speed Training explain the causes and symptoms of exam stress, and how you can support a child during exam season.

What is Exam Stress?

Dr Richard Anderson, Head of Learning and Development at High Speed Training, said: “It’s to be expected for anyone that has an exam coming up, regardless of their age, to experience some level of stress, whether that is in school, college, university or in our personal or professional lives.

“It’s perfectly natural and can actually help some people with their motivation and desire to succeed.

“However, when stress levels become too elevated, it can really hamper performance, and can cause a number of other health and wellbeing concerns.”

Exam stress can often be an internal pressure that students put on themselves because they want to do well and make their family and teachers proud.

However, exam stress is commonly also be caused by various other factors, including:

• Pressure to succeed from family, friends and school
• Comparison with peers or siblings
• Fear of failure and not being good enough
• Previous bad experiences with exams
• Fear about the future
• Not being well-prepared or not feeling ready
• Having caring responsibilities that prevent time for revision
• Difficulties at home
• Existing physical or mental health problems

Dr Anderson continued: “Exam stress can manifest itself in a number of ways, including emotional and behavioral changes such as becoming negative, irritable, grumpy, or snappy.

“Academically, a child might find it difficult to concentrate or lose interest in activities they normally enjoy.

“Physical symptoms can include sleep issues, changes in eating habits, increased consumption of caffeine, and experiencing physical discomfort like stomach aches, headaches, or muscle pains.

“Overall, they might simply feel unwell, nauseous, and tired. Recognising these signs is the first step in providing appropriate support.”

Top tips for reducing and managing exam stress

• Encourage them to talk about their work and their worries and remind them that what they are feeling is normal. Be supportive, reassuring and calm so they know that you’re behind them no matter what. Avoid criticising or nagging your child to revise. Instead, tell them you’re proud, regardless of how their exams go.
• Increase your child’s motivation by helping them to prepare. Provide your child with a calm, comfortable place to revise, and offer to help create a revision timetable or tidy their desk, remind them that you’re there to help at any time and discuss a reward for once the exams are over.
• Ensure your child eats a balanced diet, has a good sleep routine and is taking part in regular exercise.
• Be flexible with normal routines around exam time. Whilst your child is busy revising and preparing for their exams, don’t worry about letting normal chores and responsibilities slide whilst they focus on what’s important.
• Practise what it’s like to do an exam so the child knows what to expect, and try to discourage last-minute revision. Cramming all night before an exam is unlikely to be helpful, as it’ll make your child tired and more panicked. 
• Plan a reward for getting through revision and exams. Give your child a treat to look forward to for completing their revision schedule and sitting their exams.
• On the day of the exam, be prepared. Help your child to get all the pens, pencils and equipment they’ll need for the exam ready, make sure they’ve had a proper breakfast and are well-hydrated, and check that they know where to go for the exam and at what time.
• After the exam, give your child time to talk about how it went. Listen carefully to them, without judgement, and avoid dwelling on mistakes they think they’ve made. Allow your child to talk about their concerns and congratulate them for a good effort, no matter the outcome.

Dr Anderson said: “Exam stress is common amongst children, teenagers and young adults in education. Revising for exams and sitting tests is a big part of growing up and there are often high expectations on students to succeed. 

However, with the right support, exam stress needn’t take over and, as a parent or teacher, you have an important role to play in encouraging children to reach their potential without it impacting their mental health.”