There’s lots of advice on how to best prepare before an exam so to have the best exam experience possible.... but very little on post exam!
As you leave the hall and walk out onto the High St, it usually seems a rather bizarre. People are just going about their usual daily live, with shopping bags, catching buses and walking their dogs. Nobody stops to congratulate you on the exam you’ve just sat and braved. All that work is just not acknowledged.
I’m not going to tell you that once you’ve walked out of the hall you must pretend it didn’t happen. But, I will say you have to do your best to not overthink how you did.
Don’t ever ever ever compare answers with friends!
Especially long style answers. The odd 1 or 2 marker question might be compared. But again, too many of those isn’t good either. That’s not to say you avoid seeing your friends after sitting an exam. Just make a deal to discuss other topics. The way you usually joke around. Being able to have a laugh with your friends is 2000% better for you and your mental health than comparing answers. It’ll hopefully also give you the boost of energy needed to be able to go home or to the library and continue with revision.
Simultaneously, don’t jump into revision for the next exam straight away (unless you’re feeling up to it). It’s important to take time out after an exam to just look after yourself. Whether that’s to go for a walk, go on the swings (because you’re never too old - and yes I did that after my AS Exams), or have a bath. Don’t check twitter. Or any other social platform. Especially ones where they put up potential answers and solutions. Resist. Consider it a waste of time and energy.
It’s easy for me to say, and no doubt you’ll get sucked onto scrolling on Twitter occasionally. Before you scroll though, just ask yourself if that’s what you really want. Do you truly want to scroll for over half an hour to only come out feeling none the wiser? Sometimes the answer might be yes. So again, Twitter isn’t a forbidden app. Just do your best to control yourself.
Back to caring for yourself, if you’re not fasting due to Ramadan, then also ensure to get some good energy foods into you. Keep yourself well nourished and then if you need a nap, a short 20 to 30 minute nap can also do wonders. Once you’re up, nourished and doing your best to not think about the exam you’ve just sat, get up and be productive. Remember that, particularly at GCSE, you’re sitting such a variety of exams, you don’t want the ‘poor’ performance of one exam to affect all your other exams. Each exam is separate and a new chance to show off how brilliantly you can do. So, do your best to not waste each opportunity.
I quote ‘poor’ performance because a friend once told me that you are the worst judge of your own work and I couldn’t have said it better myself now. You cannot mark the exam paper you just sat and don’t really know how well you did. So if you think it went terribly, likelihood is that it didn’t go terribly. Your brain is just so overwhelmed that it’s over exaggerating the experience. And you’ll regret finding out that you wallowed about an exam, it affected your next exam, only to find out the exam you wallowed about actually went amazingly.
If you’ve sat down to work and it’s just not happening, don’t fret. Get up and do something charitable. I’ve found that giving and doing things for other people helps you - even through exam season. Happy hormones are released which will make you feel better about yourself. I may have mentioned this previously, but it’s so crucial I cannot emphasise it enough. Perhaps text a relative to check up on them and see how they’re doing on such a fine day. Or, go and bake the brownies which your brother oh so loves. Washing the dishes can also be pretty therapeutic!
At some point you’ll have to sit down and review the stuff you need for your next exam. I speak as if the next exam is exactly the day after because I know they usually are at GCSE and AS level. But of course, depending on when the exam is, space out the revision. If you have the whole of the next day off then you can take the current day more lightly, get in some more sleep and perhaps spend some extra time on the swings.
If the exam is the next day, again don’t work too hard. At this point you shouldn’t have to be learning tonnes of content. Take it easy so you don’t burn out before the exam the next day. Do some light work, maybe an essay plan or two if it’s an essay based subject the next day, or do the most recent past paper for the exam. Then call it a night. Also, drink lots of water while revising.
Sumayyah Amin
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