Exam Stress

Stress can help you to feel motivated to meet deadlines and perform in exams but too much stress can have a negative effect on your mental wellbeing.

If you feel that academic stress is interfering with your ability to function in the way you’d like, take action: 

• Eat well: Eat fresh fruit and vegetables. Slow release foods such as complex carbs e.g. porridge, nuts, seeds can help to sustain energy. Hydrate regularly - water aids brain function! Go easy on caffeine and alcohol - they can negatively affect energy and concentration.
• Sleep: getting a good night’s sleep is a great idea around exam time and for your wellbeing in general. Lack of sleep is a stress in itself but also it affects our learning. Matthew Walker, a leading sleep expert, explains what happens here or watch this short video for five tips for falling asleep quicker.
• Exercise: “If exercise could be packed into a pill, it would be the single most widely prescribed and beneficial medicine in the nation” wrote Dr Robert Butler in the 1980’s. Research continues to uncover more benefits including for study Tips include: little and often, develop a routine, find something you like, maybe use an app like Strava to track your efforts and make sure sessions are more than 10 minutes long. The NHS Live Well website contains useful information on physical exercise. MMU Sport can tell you about the facilities available on campus.
• Take some time out: listen to our wellbeing podcasts on mindfulness and relaxation join our mindfulness weekly sessions.
• When studying: take regular breaks - research shows that we can concentrate well for approximately 45 minutes. Set yourself realistic achievable goals and don’t compare yourself to others but stick to your own timetable / approach to revision. Our Study Skills team offer great support, online and in person, to help you plan assignments, manage your time and prepare for exams.
• Believe in yourself. You wouldn’t have a place on the course if you didn’t have the ability to do it. Aim to do your best but recognise that none of us can be perfect all of the time. If you think that perfectionism is causing academic stress, take a look at the useful information from The Centre for Clinical Interventions (Western Australia) to help put perfectionism in perspective.

Take a look at our Exam stress leaflet.