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*!




325 responses
Dear IGCSE TEAM,
I am a student currently taking IGCSE on May/June 2016. May I know how to solve this problem? I have concentrated hard on various subjects which includes mathematics , English , physics , business , economics , Global Perspective.I feel like I am ready for these subjects but by concentrating more on this subjects , I left out on Additional Mathematics.I do try my best to understand in ADD.MATHS classes but from time to time , I tend to doze off. I too do not understand a single question on the past paper. Any advice if I may ask ?
Hi Bernard,
It looks like you do not have any interest in Add Maths 🙂
If it is so, perhaps you could drop this subject if you do not need it for your future study.
Hey. I am actually able to understand all the concepts in my class that are being taught to me, but still i am not able to score A*, i am stuck somewhere between A and B. Also i feel distracted during studying time. I feel kinda bored, then i just stop studying. My teachers say that i have gone through a downfall. Could you pls help me with my problem?
Revert ASAP.
Thank you so much.
Hello Avi,
You need to find out where did you lose the points, and pay more attention to that.
Hi IGCSE Team, I am very anxious for my May-June examinations. I can’t study Biology being concentrated as the pile of books is making me feel like this is never going to work out. How will I get an A+ in Bio. Please help me become less stressful and study efficiently.
Dear igcse team, i have my oak studies and islamiat exams in may 2016 n i am very tensed as my preperation is far from satisfactory and every time i try to study, i get distracted. Also i tend to forget sguff very easily even when i have studied hard… i am unable to study for long houfs and when i leave for a break, i end up being free the whole day….please please please help me and tell me how to prepare myself for A* before time… i am a bright student n cannot live up to myself if i do not get A*s….
Hi Uswa,
If you are not able to study long hours, just break them down into smaller chunk. For example, 30 minutes / 60 minutes in one go. Then adjust as how you feel.
There is no “fixed” rule as you just study for long hours. 🙂
I am not able to cope with the syllabus. I find it a way too lengthy. Please help me with some tips. 🙁
Break syllabus into chunks,study the syllabus way before your examinations, prepare well you will be fine. Do not have that constant thought that the syllabus is lengthy . That negativity could stop you from trying your best. I hope it works for you as for me I’m waiting for my Igsce results this Tuesday ……?fingers crossed
Hello igcse team…. I have my chemistry paper 1 exm few hours latr and it seems like that I have forgotten each an everything that I have learned…..I have read ur post twice times bt it helped me for some times 🙁 please help me what should I do now 🙁
You need to relax Akif. There is nothing you can do now if you stress yourself up.