How To Handle Your Stress When Exam Is Approaching?

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How to handle exam stress

Announcement: Cambridge IGCSE, O Level and AS & A Level June 2025 past papers are now available.

We have received enormous amount of stress rescue requests from candidates. Especially when the exam is approaching.

We do hope parents and educators are paying kind attention to this post.

All of the candidates are pouring their hearts out to us, crying for help, because there is really no one listening to them or helping them.

Here are some of their cry out:

  • Fear of failing.
  • Not being able to recall stuff I just studied,
  • Not enough time!!!
  • I’m so scared right now! Do you think there’s any chance I might improve in time for my examinations?
  • Pressure from teachers and parents.
  • Feeling like I’m not worth anything or good enough.
  • I feel myself getting everything and understanding it but if I try to solve anything, it just doesn’t happen and it’s extremely frustrating.
  • My teachers do not seem passionate with teaching, they are interested in being given more money incentives on top of their salaries, they want money, my school is poor to pay more money.
  • I am scared from the examinations.

… and many many more.

Therefore, in this article, we will discuss how to “handle” your stress. Hope this would help you not only in your exam, you probably will carry this throughout your life. 🙂


Can We “Handle” Stress?

Contrary to popular belief, we CAN NOT “handle” stress.

Stress does not exist. It is NOT a thing that you can hold nor eat 😉

Stress is a feeling resulting from your thought.

From your ‘negative’ thought to be precise.

When your mind constantly thinking on negative thoughts, for example: you are scared to fail, or not getting an A*, or not good enough comparing to your older brothers or sisters, etc…; you create a bad feeling inside your body from all the negative thoughts.

The bad feeling that you feel, is what you call ‘stress’.

The more you want to “handle” your stress, the more you think there is something wrong about you. Then, you put more pressure and create more unwanted negative thoughts about yourself.

Why would you do that then?

Shall we agree from now on you don’t try to “handle” your stress anymore?

We only take “YES” as the answer 😉

So what should you do then? Keep reading…

1. Admit You Have Negative Thought(s)

There is really no big deal to admit we have negative thoughts. Everyone has them.

Just the courage to admit we have them, we have already eliminated most of the bad feelings.

Aren’t you feel lighter now?

Know that you can’t fight darkness with darkness. You can only fight darkness with light. By admitting the existence of negativity, you have inserted the light of positivity.

That is the most important starting point, and it is essential for you to continue to the next step.

2. Change Your Thoughts

Now that you know stress is the bad feelings you created from all your negative thoughts.

All you need to do now is – Change Your Thoughts.

Here are some steps for you to start doing that:

  • Start by imagining the positive outcomes that you want to see or to have. For example: imagine you score A* in Maths, then feel the happiness feeling when you see your result slip.
    As Albert Einstein said: “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
  • Make a list of things that you are afraid or frustrated of. Next, write the positive opposite of it. For example: I am scared of exams. The positive opposite you could write: I handle exam with ease / I write smoothly in the exam / I am entering the exam hall with full energy and I can’t wait to put everything I know down on the paper to show that I deserved an A* 🙂
  • Know that examination is just a method used to see if you have understood the theory thoroughly and know how to present it out.
  • Examination is also a way to let you find out what is your best talent. You will notice a trend that you tend to do well in certain subjects, but not the others. So, there is really no big deal if you can’t do well in Physics but trump in Arts. Because that is your best talent that you are meant to be the best in order to contribute to mankind in the future.

When you are making your list, you will notice that you have a shift in your feeling.

You will feel must lighter, your mind is clearer, you have so much energy that you want to jump into the exam hall right now, and most importantly, you will notice a big smile on your face because now you are a much happier person!

The final step is, you must train yourself to keep this happy feeling and not let yourself slide backwards again to the negative thoughts.

Step 3 will show you exactly how to do that.

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3. Get Good Results By Keeping The Positive Thoughts

The best way to keep your mind on positive thoughts is gratitude.

If you make a search, you will discover many great minds had always said the same thing about gratitude, and what kind of miracle it would bring to you.

Here are some of them:

“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.” ~ Tony Robbins

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ~ Albert Einstein

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.” ~ Melodie Beatty

Make gratitude your daily dose in your daily life.

You could be grateful for the chance to study, the ability to read and write, to be able to attend your exam at your comfort, to have a comfortable bed to sleep on each night, the luxury of clean running water and electricity, the money that have been given to you so you could continue your education, the fresh air, all your favourite food that is always available at your reach, etc etc etc …

The list is so vast that we simply couldn’t put everything here. But you get the idea of where to start 🙂

Pay attention to how you feel. If you are not feeling good, that means your mind is currently broadcasting negative thoughts.

Immediately find anything you could be grateful for to shift to positive thought.

***

Last but not least, please know that you are a worthy human being. Everyone is.

We are all here to do something important. We are all equipped with a special talent that only we have, no one else.

And we are meant to find out what we are good at, so we could contribute this talent to mankind. When you are contributing your best talent for the benefit of mankind, you will be rewarded handsomely (a.k.a earning a lot of money). 🙂

So now, go out there and score A*!

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Join 62,169 (and counting) IGCSE & AS/A Level subscribers who’ve taken our insanely valuable FREE email courses. Learn exam tips & score A* in your exam!

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325 responses

  1. My final exams are in few weeks can u please tell me how to study and get good grades
    I want to get atleast 4 As in o level
    Thanku! Please reply ASAP

    1. Hi Maryam,
      At this point of time, you should have done all the revision, and practise on the past papers.

      1. So what should i do now? Is there no hope .I am done with some of the subjects please reply

  2. Hey IGCSE Centre,
    I wanted to know if the total percentage is calculated for all the subjects…or if it is only the grading

  3. Hello IGCSE CENTRE,

    I am feeling happy and relaxed after reading the article . I am confident and I will believing myself after reading the article . I am working hard for my exams and I will get rid of all my problems .

    I think I will be able to think positively . I am feeling much better now .

    I will read all the tips again and again before my exams and any problems .

    Stress , is Broken Up. Thanks a lot for the confidence and the tips.

    I will “AIM” for an A* and I always will.

    1. No, predicted grade is just a guideline for you. It does not contribute to anything in your actual exam.

        1. Yes definitely! As long as you have worked diligently towards achieving A*, NOT just sitting and day-dreaming that you could get it.

          We have seen many such examples, and have “pulled” many candidates out of despair until they achieved A*. Just read our testimonials 🙂

          Take proper actions, concentrate on your studies, do not care about what others said about you. You know you can do it! 🙂

          1. I just want to ask that what is done in case the paper is misplaced as a few of my fellow students have raised this question.

          2. Hi Adam,
            Please get the confirmation from CIE for this. As CIE is the one handling the exam papers.

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