In my candidate year I was studying until two in the morning and waking up at five. I stopped eating properly. I felt sick before every test, and I was convinced that if I failed, my life was over.
An SIU workshop at our school covered exam stress. They taught us simple things: breathing slowly when panic starts, breaking revision into short blocks, sleeping enough, and talking to someone instead of carrying it all alone.
The breathing sounded silly at first, but I tried it before a mock exam and my hands stopped shaking. I made a timetable with real breaks, and I told my mother how scared I was. She had no idea.
My results improved, but more importantly I no longer feel like one exam decides who I am.
