By Amy Moore, Content Team contributor
Something that nobody ever warned me about was the anxiety that comes with waiting to receive exam results. I had always been under the impression that it was the exams which were supposed to be anxiety-evoking. Instead, those weeks between the last exam and the publishing of results were the worst for me.
When you walk out of an exam, oftentimes there is an immediate feeling of relief that it is over, but then slowly, as you speak to others and dwell on what you have written, it is so easy to completely doubt yourself. As someone who’s GCSEs got cancelled due to a global pandemic, prior to my A-Levels, I had very little experience of waiting months for exam results. And then, suddenly, all of my exams finished in June and then there was nothing until the end of August. I kept telling people that I was going to go to university, when in reality, I knew that if my grades were not as I had hoped, then plans for the next three years of my life would be thrown completely off-track. For those two months, I was drowning in anxiety.
Looking back on it now, at the end of my degree, I can acknowledge that I have become far more sure of myself and my own abilities, however that is something that you learn over time. For now, these are my top tips for living with exam results anxiety.
- Find something to distract you. I am a person who loves to be busy and who loves to have a project to work towards, so when school had finished and there was a long, empty summer awaiting me, I would spend my time worrying about the inevitability of results day. And so, my first suggestion would be to find something to distract you. Whether that be an art project or exploring a new place or even something as simple as reading a book, all of these things are great for filling in the gap that school and weeks of revision leaves behind.
- Consider what you’re worried about and formulate a plan. The unknown has always been a key source of my own anxieties over the years, and so when it came to waiting for exam results, I made sure that I had a plan just in case thing did not work out in the way I had hoped. After my A-Levels, I researched options related to clearing and potential apprenticeships. It helped calm me to know that there were other options apart from university, if they were needed.
- Change your mindset. As always, this is the most difficult and has taken a long time for me to accomplish. But, once you step out of that last exam hall, there is simply nothing you can do to change what results you will receive. It is something that you have relinquished control over, and that can be terrifying. But, it can also be freeing. When you can feel yourself slipping into worrying about results day, it helps to take a step back and look at the situation with a rational mind. Is spending your summer worrying going to make any difference to the results you receive? Not at all. In fact, it will likely only lessen your joy over the summer. This is something that, even know, I have to remind myself of every so often, but once you can take a step back from anxiety, you gain a whole new perspective.
It has taken me until the end of my three years of university to fully accept this way of thinking, and so, it is my hope that you will take on these small snippets of advice that have helped me through school exams and my degree. Ultimately, however, try to make the most of your summer and just know that however results day goes for you, exams do not define you and everything will work out. Exam results are merely a small part of your life, there is so much to enjoy in the meantime.
