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BySam Allcock
May 2, 2025

Five essential habits students should adopt to tackle exam stress this year

FindTutors, a UK-based tuition platform operated by GoStudent, is encouraging students to embrace five simple habits that can ease pressure and help manage anxiety during the upcoming exam season.

With exams looming for thousands of pupils and students across the country, many are already feeling the effects of stress caused by the demands of revision and academic expectations. Despite greater awareness brought on by initiatives like Stress Awareness Month in April, effective stress-management remains a major concern.

A 2024 survey from the Association of School and College Leaders revealed that 77% of teachers have witnessed a rise in mental health struggles in their Year 11 students due to exam pressure. These findings align with NHS figures showing that referrals for child anxiety have more than doubled since the pandemic, reflecting a wider mental health crisis among Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

To support young learners and their families, Tiara Junanto, former teaching assistant and spokesperson at FindTutors, shares five practical strategies to help students navigate this stressful period.

“Preparing for and sitting exams can be incredibly stressful, and without the right tools or knowledge to deal with this, it can quickly spiral into more serious issues.
“The most important thing by far is sleep. We’ve all been there, working on a particularly tricky subject late in the day, and it is tempting to keep going at the expense of a good night’s sleep. This is almost always a mistake, with poor quality or insufficient sleep shown by multiple studies to reduce your attention span and how effective your brain is at understanding things. Aim to get at least 8 hours a night, even on busy days.
“Alongside this comes exercise and nutrition. Grabbing the microwave meal or skipping that run to do a few extra hours of revision sounds like a good idea, but if you have weeks or months to go until the end of exam season it will quickly catch up with you. Exercise can be a fantastic stress reliever and provides your brain with a much-needed break from studying.
“As exams get closer, try and share your feelings with other students or friends, discussing your experiences can help you feel more in control of situations and hearing that others are going through a similar time can be reassuring. But make sure it doesn’t just become a competition to see who is doing the most revision, which is never helpful. Also make sure that you get help from a professional, if you need.
“On the day of, or night before, exams, try and take some time to relax. Techniques such as deep breathing exercises or mindfulness can help you feel less stressed and if you’ve already put in the work, will be more beneficial than any last-minute cramming and certainly better than a night without sleep.
“Finally, don’t discuss the exam with your friends afterward. It is very tempting to try and compare answers to reassure yourself that you have done well, but this can be unhelpful for both you and your friends when you are powerless to do anything about the outcome. This is especially true if you still have more exams to come. Try to let it go and forget about it.”
BySam Allcock
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