How I ditched the exam anxiety & started getting As

There I stood, along with my bike, by the church where our bike group always meet. It was 7 AM and it would be a day that changed my life.

In lower school, I was always one of the smartest. So when we had to choose our level in grade 6, I was confident I would do the tto program, which was the highest level in English. My teacher believed in me and let me write a letter to get in. I got in, with 2 of my best friends and 1 other classmate.

On the first day of grade 7, I was a bit nervous but I thought I would be okay. It was not okay, after a one-hour cycling trip we finally got to school, but I was already exhausted. When I came home I was so tired, I went straight to bed.

The weeks after the first day, It didn’t go well with me. I was in a bit of a dark time and had panic attacks almost every day. The blackouts with tests became regular and I didn’t want to go out of bed in the morning. By the time of Christmas, they said I had fear of failure.

After Christmas I got help and it went a little better. At the beginning of 8 grade, my resolution for the new school year was to be independent, motivated, and get good grades. In that year I studied hard, make goals, and a lot of dreams. But then COVID-19 came and it looked like all the goals I had made at the beginning had fallen apart.

But I was not giving in, my planner skills got better and that’s where I am now. School is going great, I’m not the best student with only straight A´s, but I’m working hard. I have made my plans and dreams for the future and got enough time for friends and family.

My study tips?

First, you got to believe in yourself, because if you don’t, you won't begin at your work.

Second, you have to make a plan and goals. Myself, I make every night before the next day a to-do list and write up some goals.

For studying, please throw away your phone. I know it's attractive to look at what your friends are being up to, but you always spend too much time on it and they will survive a few hours without you. An app like forest helps you to don’t look at your phone. You set a timer for an amount of time and If you don’t look at your phone it will grow a tree. If you are like me, you don’t want that cute tree to die.

Also, the Pomodoro technique helps a lot. You study for 25 minutes and take a break off 5 minutes after that. You repeat it till you have focused for 2 hours and then take a 30 min break. You can repeat it as many times as you want.

Something that might also help is waking up early to get things done. For everyone, this could be at different times, but in the morning you are the most productive.

Finally, rewards. Rewards are very important because then you really have the motivation to do things. This could be in the long term, like achieving your dream job, but also in short term, like watching an episode of your favourite series after a long day of studying.

So this was my story, I hope you liked it and I wish you a lot of success with studying. I just want to give you one more piece of advice: don’t let anything or anybody stop you from living your dreams!

Submitted by Lydia B