Summary

Everybody finds exams stressful!

They make people feel unwell, they make them grumpy, they rob people of energy and make them want to give up.

Everyone feels like this but for some people the feelings are worse than for others.

The Exam stress programme is a 6-week programme to help you develop skills to better manage feelings of extreme anxiety and stress when thinking about exams. It will help you understand why you feel like you do and the changes you can make to help you feel better using the psychological principles of CBT and mindfulness.

As we go through the course we will look at the effects of stress on us and the people around us and how we can use our own thoughts and behaviours to help us beat our exam stress.

Who can attend:

The Exam Stress Programme is for pupils who struggle to manage their stress and anxiety levels as they come up to exams. This includes students who regularly find exams make them:

• Feel ill – often weeks in advance
• Want to avoid school
• Suffer from panic attacks
• Find exams make them have negative thoughts about themselves and those around them

Session 1: Why do we feel stressed and why do some people feel worse than others?

• The evolution of stress and anxiety.
• The Anxiety mindset – Why some people feel more stressed about exams than others.
• Positive language.

Session 2: Understanding stress and anxiety affect us and those around us.

• How does stress affects our thoughts, bodies, feelings and behaviour.
• How stress affects our lives and the lives of those around us.
• You are not alone.
• The hand relaxation technique.

Session 3: Changing how we think to reduce stress and anxiety

• Some common thoughts that get us stressed near exams and why they are wrong!
• Changing our thoughts to help us feel more in control.

Session 4: Changing how we act to reduce stress and anxiety

• Some common things we do when revising that make us feel worse.
• Changes we can make to make us feel better.

Session 5: : Practice makes permanent.

• Practice positive talking.
• Plan in things that make us feel better.
• Mindfulness

Session 6: Summing up all we have learned.

• Thinking about thinking.
• Patterns of behaviour.
• Take away thoughts