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True life exam stress
True life: Don't let exams stress you out.
I’m a transition year student and I sat my junior certificate last year. Teachers repeated the same sentence every day: “Your junior cert is in so many days/ weeks/ months” and that made me panic about the exams.
I studied but it felt like I wasn’t doing enough. I felt as if the exams were going to be on top of me before I knew it.
My mock exams were in February. I studied very hard for these exams but I was still stressed out. I hardly slept at night with worry and my eating was disgraceful. I wouldn’t mind if these were my real exams but it was just my mocks! Well, I got through them anyway.
When I got my results back, I still wasn’t happy with myself. I honestly thought that I could do better. So what did I do, only get more stressed out! I suffered from migraines every week thanks to not getting proper sleep. I really did put my head down to work though.
Soon I realised it was actually my junior cert. The day before my exams I felt sickness coming on. I really couldn’t believe it: I was very weak, had sore bones and suffered terribly with migraines. However, I thought it would just be a day thing. I had the English paper on the Monday and I couldn't look at the paper properly, but I did what I could do. I got so upset because I felt as if I didn’t make a good effort of this paper. I went home in tears.
I went to my bed that night at about 8pm to get ready for another hard day. I was sick for most of the week, all because I ran myself into such bad conditions.
I finished my junior cert exams and I was just so annoyed for putting myself under too much stress and pressure. I got my results in September last year and I was so surprised with my results. I did particularly well!
When I’m in leaving cert, one thing I know not to do is get stressed out over studying. I now know to get plenty of sleep and eat properly.
Future exam students, take my word on this- don’t get stressed out over studying because you don’t want the same happening to you that happened to me. Take it in your stride. As long as you’re prepared, everything will turn out just fine!
See the help section for supportive information and contacts details of support organisations.
This article is part of the SpunOut.ie true life stories section – a space for young people to share their experiences of tough times and encourage others to seek help. This story is just one person's experience and it may be different for you. Remember that no matter what you are going through, there is help and support available. See the Find help section for more information: http://www.spunout.ie/help/
