Podczas przygotowań do egzaminów przeżywa się stres, związany z obawą przed porażką. Umiarkowany stres motywuje do pracy, wyzwala energię do podejmowania trudnych wyzwań, pozwala działać szybciej i dokonywać tego, czego bez udziału stresu nie udałoby się dokonać. Działanie niepożądane przynosi jedynie stres zbyt silny i długotrwały. Matura to bardzo ważny egzamin, który – zwłaszcza w ostatnich dniach przygotowań – może wywołać panikę.

Przeczytajcie poniższe porady i nie pozwólcie, by nadmierny stres pokrzyżował wam plany.

Powodzenia na maturze!

• Don't be afraid. Our fears are self-made. Much of exam anxiety comes from a fear of poor performance. If you can test yourself adequately prior to an exam and go in with the knowledge that you do know your stuff, you might find your anxiety diminishing.

• Sleep well, eat healthy. Symptoms of stress or anxiety can be worsened by drastic changes in sleeping and eating routines, but they can be eliminated with some physical activity like walking or swimming. It is important that students eat and sleep well.

• Relax. Anxiety creates negative consequences such as forgetting, skipping questions or making silly mistakes. Try and maintain calm.

• Focus on the present, not consequences. Focus on the activities of studying for and responding to questions on the exam rather than on potential negative consequences.

• Banish negative thoughts. Try to eliminate negative self-statements such as "I'm going to fail this exam for sure because I'm such a big dummy". Whether negative statements are accurate or not, they work to convince us that they are accurate and this has an impact on our behaviour and self-concept.

• Beware of the frantic student. It is hard sometimes to establish a controlled attitude for an exam, but it is easy to lose this attitude when you come into contact with somebody who is very highly anxious. The natural habitat of this kind of highly stressed individual is the main entrance to the exam room, just before an exam begins, trying to learn those last bits of information before the exam.

• Forget the word 'EXAM'. Try not to think about the concept of the exam and the results too much. Relax. Thinking about future result is only needless added pressure. And this holds for during the exam as well.

• Time-management. Since this is not instinctive to most students, it's ok to write a note and stick it right in front of your desk. And of course, stick to the schedule stuck, so to speak.

• Concentrate. When you're on a subject, concentrate your all on that, and nothing else. It's just so much easier for the brain to register one thing at a time. You have promised yourself that bit of time for your studying, all else is immaterial at that time.

• Know yourself. It's not just a habit. It's more of a philosophy. It's your decision to give it the amount of effort you do. After that, you know how much you gave it, be willing to accept the appropriate reward.