Feeling Confident in Exams

It’s that time of year once again. Time to make our final fun plans with friends until next year, time to turn in those final projects, and time to take those final exams. Personally, I have had a lot of projects this semester, so I only have one final exam this week, but I know some people who have quite a few this week.  

Students will respond differently to the workload coming up this week. Some will dread their exams, some will study quite often in order to feel prepared, and some may not do much studying at all (which is probably not recommended). Similarly, students will react differently after their exams are done. Some students will feel they did okay or good enough, some may feel they failed it because they didn’t do as well as they hoped, others may feel they failed it because they did, and others will feel they were quite successful on their final exams. 

Regardless of how students approach this week, there is at least some degree of stress involved in all this. Some students may feel it more and some students may feel it less. Personally, I’m on the lower end of the spectrum. Here’s why. 

For one, I know that I’m a good student. I get mostly A’s and B’s and have never been phased too much by things like final exams or projects. Honestly, most of the time, I just do the work and turn it in without second thoughts about how it could have been better because my work has always been pretty successful. I put in enough effort into it to get the grades that I hope for.  

Second is that I know how I study. I’m not one to begin studying days or weeks in advance. I usually study for a few hours the night before until I feel that I’ve thoroughly learned the material for the exam. I’ve found that I do well on tests when studying this way, so it’s how I choose to study. It works for me.  

Third is how I react after the exam. Usually when I turn in a test, my thought process is something along the lines of, “Well. it’s turned in now.” Even though this may sound a bit pessimistic, it's not. I don’t spend time second guessing it because I’m confident that I’ve done well. After I’ve left the classroom, I usually don’t worry about the exam too much because there isn’t anything that I can do about it at this point anyway.  

So, what is my “secret” to low stress during exam week? It’s having confidence in myself. I am confident that I am a good student and that my studying tactics work for getting good grades on the exams. This confidence goes until after my exams as I feel good about it turning them in and I don’t stress about them afterwards.  

What advice would I give to work on this? Know yourself. Know what works for you and what leads to you being successful on these things. Do not worry about what works for others and just focus on what works for you. Focus on who you are, how you study, and why that will lead to your success.