5 Ways To Thrive Under Pressure Before Exams

The title’s too ambitious. I should have probably gone for Five Ways How Not To Succumb To Pressure but that just doesn’t brim with those positive vibes I’d like to send your way, now does it? Plus, I’m too lazy to change it. Oh well.

It’s that dreadful time of the year when a lot of my friends are preparing to sit for their repeats and their panic is a veritable force to be reckoned with. Stress is your constant companion when you’re in med school. It’s just one of those painful realities, like inevitably succumbing to the seasonal cold (curse you rhino/corona/whichever damned virus you are!) and having to pay taxes. You just painfully learn to accept that which you cannot change.

Eventually most of us come to the startling epiphany that stress is the very same unwanted friend you love to publicly hate and rant about but secretly you’re eternally grateful for her existence in your life because, who are you kidding? If it wasn’t for her, your lazy ass would happily binge watch Game Of Thrones all night long.

Yes, when it comes to stress, your relationship will perpetually read ‘it’s complicated’. But add the realization that this symbiotic relationship you share, which drained you throughout the semester and is now intruding upon the summer you would have finally gotten some well deserved distance… the same summer you’re (author’s note: do not laugh) devoting towards prepping for a ‘This is Sparta!” exam, well then stress becomes a monster. And I can see some of my friends crack under its treacherous claws.

Don’t get me wrong; I ain’t nobody’s Yoda. It just so happens that since I’m a third party with way (really, way) too much time on her hands and a lot of frustrated, hysterical friends to console, I’ve given the issue some (ok a lot, I did mention too much free time right?) thought. And research.

Ergo, I’ve decided to organize it in a coherent fashion for you to read since this is much better than me frenziedly texting you to calm down. So here are 5 ways for you to not succumb to pressure if you believe you or perhaps a friend, is on the verge of losing it:

1.    Breathe

Yes, you didn’t learn something new but don’t roll your eyes in disbelief and mutter, “that’s it?!” Actually exercise your diaphragm before we begin. Take a deep breath in. And out. And calm the f- out.

Oh also, according to this study, this actually works.

2.    Focus On What You Already Know

There’s way too much to get done and not enough time.
I’m panicking- I can’t focus, I can’t think, I can’t learn.

Sound familiar? Each minute you spend panicking about everything you haven’t learned yet or long forgotten, is a minute wasted. As you struggle to learn or memorize new concepts, the hysteria of things yet to be done as well as the distress of not getting work done at a fast enough pace will render your efforts useless. If you’re experiencing this nauseating anxiety: focus on the concepts you already know- once again going over material you know well will not only consolidate existing knowledge but also significantly bolster your dwindling, much needed self-confidence.

Don’t let your panic fool you. You very well have the capability to learn and understand the material; all you need is to remind yourself of that. Revisiting your strengths at a time like this is not only a great reassurance that you’ve got what it takes and have actually been productive but also spurs you on to become more productive and learn more.

In fact making a list of all the lectures and striking out the concepts you know will actually make you more productive! According to Simon Sinek, author of the 2009 bestseller ‘Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action’, “Dopamine is released when you accomplish something you set out to accomplish, when you cross something off your to do list, when you hit the goal. Dopamine makes us achievement machines, but we have to know that we’re making progress”

3.    Be Vain

As clichéd as this sounds, go and stand before your mirror and praise yourself.

That’s right, according to science, informing yourself of how great you are really does boost that self-confidence and enhances your self-efficacy, which are lifeboats in the sea of panic you’re currently drowning in.

According to a study carried out by Stanford University, seventh grade minority students were requested to focus on the positive elements of their lives when they faced stressful times such as holidays, start of academic years and before exams. And their results? An overall 30% increase in their results.

I know, mind blown.

4.    Revaluate The Value Of Pressure

An exam has three price tags: what it’s worth to you, (if you’re Asian) what it’s worth to your parents and (universally) what it’s actually worth. Instead of looking at this exam as a threat to your self-esteem, as ridiculous as it sounds, try thinking of it as an opportunity to challenge yourself. What I’m trying to say is, have some fun with it.

As medical students we’re all familiar with the two types of stresses, it can either be perceived as a challenge or a threat. According to authors of Performing Under Pressure: The Science Of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most, Weisinger and Pawliw-fry, “Nobody performs better under pressure. Regardless of the task, pressure ruthlessly diminishes our judgment, decision-making, attention, dexterity, and performance in every professional and personal arena.”

Yes your exam is an important one and a lot is riding upon your success, but as insensitive as it sounds, stop-adding pressure upon yourself by increasing it’s worth in your mind. The more value you add to something the more unattainable it will feel. Let’s get a reality check: an exam is simply a paper and a moment of your existence, by no means can it determine your actual worth and potential. If you fail, be honest, will the world really end? Will that really be the end of you? No, it won’t.

Nothing is actually over until you’re dead.

So stop trying to imagine what this performance is worth to whom, instead challenge your abilities and have some fun with this moment.

5.  Stop Self-Sabotaging

Have you been recently questioning your capabilities? Questioning whether you’re good enough? Did you make a mistake? Is medicine even the path for you? Is this all fate? Maybe you were meant to be, I don’t know, a YouTuber?

STOP SELF-SABOTAGING!

Seriously, like, stop.

If you’re questioning and trying to make major life decisions under stress, this is simply your brain’s way of endeavoring to not get overwhelmed. Remember how tip #4 was me berating you to not add too much value to your performance? Well your brain subconsciously comprehends this but instead of reframing your perception, it’s sneakily stripping your performance of all value! Why try if it doesn’t really mean anything? Don’t be fooled by your scheming, devious brain- questioning life decisions under pressure is a classic, textbook ploy for your brain to cheat you out of something you possibly, secretly value too much.

On a side note, if you’re actually wondering if medicine is for you then ask yourself this on a good day. When you’ve passed and your future is secure, then proceed to question yourself.

In conclusion, wow this article is too damn long. If you stuck till the end, well aren’t you a trooper? I honestly wanted this blog to be a serious, reviewing platform and now I’m writing motivational (or at least what I believe to be motivational ha) pieces for students. Anyway if this article cleared your mind of even a teensy bit of that asphyxiating, panic-driven fog, then it was well worth it.

Best of luck!