Five ways to combat exam stress

With exam season well and truly upon us, there’s a lot of focus on exam stress for students. On the internet and in social media you will find a plethora of tips and advice on how to minimise stress in order to give the best performance on the day.  From getting organised and having a focused revision plan to mindfulness and yoga to relax – everyone has an opinion on what to do when preparing for exams.

However, in all of this very little consideration is given to those involved in creating, setting and running exams. The lead-up to the all-important exam can be an incredibly stressful time. With question creation, integrity, security, and the physical logistics to consider – all before a student sets foot in an exam hall – how can stress be minimised for those working in exams too?

Here we explore our top stress reducing tips alongside Speedwell’s exam software; eSystem and demonstrate how investing in exam management software can ease stress and improve exam processes.

1. Get Organised

Top of the list for students preparing for exams is to get organised with study and revision notes. The same can be said for those creating exams; how is your question bank organised? If it is still managed via a collection of word documents held in various different locations – it’s time to upgrade!

eSystem’s advanced question bank not only allows questions to be stored and located easily but to be organised into as many groups as needed, for example topics, learning outcomes, keywords or categories. It’s easy to add questions to the bank and by assigning authors permissions you can ensure that they can only view and edit their own questions rather than having access to the whole bank. It’s flexible too; question contributions can be added from any location via the dedicated web app.

2. Have a Plan

For students, it’s about having a revision plan. For those setting exams it’s about ensuring that the exam set meets strict criteria; that all of the learning outcomes are covered, that there is the right mix of question difficulties and so on. Doing this manually can be a time consuming and stressful.

This is where the eSystem’s blueprinting facility can save time and remove stress. Running a blueprint takes seconds and provides a visual check of any gaps in your exams. For example by blueprinting learning outcomes with curriculum areas you can instantly check that the entire syllabus is covered and that it is at the appropriate level of difficulty. This provides confidence and reassurance that the exam will meet your needs and frees up your time for other tasks. 

3. Know your Strengths and Weaknesses

For students, knowing their strengths and weaknesses will help focus revision efforts. In exam creation this is about having knowledge of which questions performed well and which did not. With the eSystem’s statistical analysis tools it’s possible to see at a touch of a button all of the analysis you would expect such as; discrimination, reliability and difficulty. This provides valuable question insights to improve future assessments.

It’s also possible to gain insights into candidate performance with a candidate feedback report.  Assessors and candidates can review performance by learning outcome and topic area, as well as being able to see how they performed compared to others taking the exam. This report, which can be available instantly or at a set time in the future, not only meets the increasing demand from students for timely feedback but also provides valuable information on any learning gaps to be addressed.   

4. Have a Support Network

Knowing that you have a support network can ease stress considerably. Having someone there to help solve issues and work through problems can be invaluable. With our eSystem software you get unlimited support – we want to quickly resolve any queries and will be on hand to offer advice to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

5. Eat & Sleep

With a top exam management software working hard for you, gone are the days of skipping lunch and frantically working through – you will be able to reward yourself with a well-earned break. You’ll also be able to sleep easy, confident in the knowledge that with the eSystem the ability to create and run world-class examinations is at your fingertips.

Finally, when exam day arrives remember to relax and take a deep breath – GOOD LUCK!

To find out more about our eSystem and any of its features, or to arrange a demo, please contact our sales team on +44 (0) 1223 851703 or email info@speedwellsoftware.com