Student stress 'heartbreaking' as exams loom

A Wellington teacher and study coach says she's seeing increased levels of anxiety and stress among NCEA students as exams loom.

Spectrum Education chief executive Karen Boyes said the stress students were feeling was "heart-breaking".

"We're seeing so many students, and parents actually, with high anxiety and almost in a capacity that they are frozen, not being able to move forward.

"It's a bit of an epidemic right now," she told RNZ's Nine to Noon.

She said feelings of stress before a big event were to be expected.

"It's normal to be anxious when you care and when you don't know what the outcome is."

How to ease feelings of stress in students

Go back over mock exams

"The key about studying is to learn what you don't know. Most students go home and study what they do know, and that's just a waste of time."

And while this might make students feel better, it is not learning, she said.

"Learning is going over what you don't know, what you got wrong."

Use a variety of techniques to revise

"Use mnemonics, use chunking information. Maybe flash cards, the old-fashioned flash cards still work. Get someone to test you, watch videos, read from different sources, get different multiple points of view, get a tutor to come and help."

Study in bursts of 20 minutes

"Do 20 minutes, do a quick revision of what you've just done, and then take a five-minute break."

But don't leave it all to the last minute - cramming isn't an effective way to learn, Boyes warns.

"Spaced repetition is the way to do it. So, you want to do some of it today, and then go back to it tomorrow, and then go back to the next day.

"Space it out, don't try and cram it all in, cramming doesn't work, so space it out over the time that you've got."

Study wherever is comfortable

"It might be in your bedroom, but not on your bed, because that's for sleeping. It could be on the floor, it could be a desk or chair. It could be sitting in the sunshine. Some people like studying in a coffee shop."

Try group study if that works for you: "Talking about it is a great way to learn the information. In fact, teaching somebody is the highest form of understanding."

But music whilst you hit the books is an "it all depends".

"If a student is studying to music and they're singing away to the music, then they are not studying. The brain cannot focus on two things at the same time - multitasking is a myth."

If a task is proving too hard, move on

"Leave that bit and focus on what you can do," Boyes says.

And if a student doesn't understand something and exams are looming, don't panic.

"Your teachers are available right through to your exams, go in and ask for help and ask for support."