29 Apr 2025
We talk a lot at exam time about managing our own stress levels and supporting our students to do the same. But what attention do we give to the physical space in which exams take place? There are things you can do to prepare both your students – and the room, to create positive energies that could make a big difference.
Mental Preparation
You and your teachers will do all you can to set up the right ‘Exam Room Experience’ in terms of what will happen before, during and after the exam itself.
Advance information is vital, so students can correctly anticipate what’s ahead and how best to manage it.
These are the obvious practicalities of rules and regulations, the invigilators’ role, starting and finishing the exam. Numerous videos are available on these, or you may have created your own PowerPoints for the occasion.
It’s a positive first step to set the scene and avoid surprises on the day.
Once you’ve covered the basics, give a thought to other ways you can prepare students’ to handle the mental side of exams.
Let’s go through a few ideas.
Visualisation of the exam space
- You – or a teacher could lead the students through an Imagining Exercise, where they ‘see’ themselves walking into the exam room, taking their seat, settling down, starting the exam, reading their paper etc.
- This visualisation should be let them see everything working out as they want it to and unfolding in a positive way. They may see their own smiling face as they work through the questions with no worry or challenge
- You can also use visualisation to help them ‘see’ a new future opening up after successfully completing their exams. It’s a future filled with images and feelings of bright possibilities.
Any of these could be set to gentle music to enhance the experience.
The best way to prepare students for the mental pressures of exams is a mix of Thinking skills matched with a range of Mindful exercises to calm their thoughts and ease their minds.
Thinking Skills
Talk them through how fear gets set and what they can do to help their racing, panic when it kicks in.
- Run sessions to explain the science behind fear and panic before teaching ways to shift their subconscious reactions to stress
Mindfulness based calming practices
- Introduce sessions on calming Mindful practices like Meditation
- Show them how to shift their thinking from the negative self-talk to a more mind chatter that they can have working for them as they go into the exam room
- Share exercises to help students slow down their breathing, to give their heart rate a chance to get more regular
- Find what works best to ease your students’ thoughts and have them feel more confident about the exams
Extra ideas
- Before or as students do their exams, you – or anyone else can ‘offer up the intention’ that they do their best. Perhaps as a Collective, you could gather to send this positive energy to your students! A shared energy is always better than a single one, but ANY positive thought will work to increase the vibration of the event and help in calming.
- Some of us respond to nice twiddly meditation music. Could you play some to the students as they wait for their exam? Perhaps you could have some music playing in the hall pre-exam to add to create a calming atmosphere
- Many folk use air fresheners to improve the energy and ambiance of rooms. Look into the calming effects of various essential oils and make up a mix to mist the space before exams take place
(NOTE: check first that this doesn’t have any negative affect on individual allergies!)
When thinking about creating a calm space, be guided by the regulations of what’s acceptable to JCQ and make sure any preparation happens away from the designated exam room.
Encourage students to practice a range of exercises to find what works for them and appoint invigilators who have a calming presence about them. Every little helps, after all!
Ready to take your exam preparations to the next level? Let’s make sure your students and staff are ready for success.
I work with schools to prepare their students for the mental challenge of exams. I have strategies to support your staff and students during the exam period including a Student Stress Bundle on Building Exam Resilience and Last-Minute Panic Attacks.
I also offer 1-day workshops in schools. Want me to work with your staff on Exam Stress and Thinking Skills? Contact me at hello@geraldinejozefiak.com for detail and I’ll send you details of 2hour and 1 day CPD sessions.