1. Overcoming Examination Jitters
Laurie Lumsden
Student Counselling Service
Trinity College Dublin
Last modified August 2003

2. The focus of this workshop is:
Control and confidence
Staying focused
Overcoming distractions
Recovering focus and control
Your personal reactions to examinations

3. Control and confidence
Do everything you can to prepare for the exam
Regular sleep and balanced diet
Manage your time and situations to control the things you can
Positive self-thought
Hang out with positive people

4. Staying focused Plan and monitor your time Equal time for equal marks
Use dot points if you remember something important in another question
If you “get stuck” go onto another question – you can go back later
Develop concentration tricks – rubber band

5. Overcoming distractions
Avoid negative thoughts
Don’t dwell on:
past performance
What you don’t know
Jot down what you know you will need to use
Avoid comparing notes, etc with classmates
Have a plan about how you will run your race
Pay attention to the exam not to yourself or what others are doing

6. Recovering focus and control
Rehearsal
W-A-SP
Develop and practice positive affirmations and body language
Anchoring techniques
Visualisation
Overcoming “blanks”
Dot points
Next question and go back
Focus on breathing and relax tension in your body

7. Your personal reactions to examinations
Identify the specific things about exams that cause you stress
Develop and rehearse strategies to counter your stress reaction
Become aware when a stress reaction is developing

8. Best wishes from your Lecturers Tutors Family and friends
Other support services at TCD
all the staff of TCD’s Student Services
and ME