Career Lift-Off Blog May/June 2025
So, why are you, a student or parent of a student reading a blog from a careers guidance and development professional about dealing with exam stress? Well, for starters many a career plan is premised on achievement of certain grades and students can be thrown completely if they are not achieved. So, careers professionals like me recognise the pressures on students taking GCSEs, A Levels, and university examinations. Students may rightly perceive that a lot hinges on exam grades.
Thinking errors can lead to stress
My extensive work with school and college students shows that some of them can engage in cognitive thinking errors, ‘dysfunctional thinking’ or ‘cognitive distortions’ as psychologists name them where the thinking errors can cause stress, even distress.
Example student A
“I need three grade As to get into medical school. It makes me so anxious. If I don’t achieve this then my career plan is all off. I won’t have a career because I have had my heart set on becoming a doctor. If I can’t become a doctor my life will be ruined.”
Student A is engaging firstly in ‘all or nothing thinking’ (it’s medical school or nothing) and secondly in ‘catastrophising’ (my life will be ruined). We can all do this in life and, yes, I am making a causal link between these two types of thinking errors and increased exam stress.
So what alternative thoughts could student A adopt to feel better about the situation?
“I can still get into medical school if I don’t get my grades because I know I can apply for graduate entry to medical school when I am 21. I can enrol for a first degree in biological science or biomedical science even if I don’t get straight As”
“I can still have a successful career if I don’t become a doctor.”
“I can still have a happy and fulfilled life if I don’t become a doctor.”
Example student B
“I’m sure to fail my science exams. I was getting decent grades until the last mini-mock the grade for which was way down. I feel like an idiot in science now and I’m just no good at it anymore.”
Student B might well be engaging in ‘mental filtering,’ ‘discounting the positive’ and ‘emotional reasoning’. In fact the first two types of thinking errors are two sides of the same coin. The student is filtering out the recent negative result and ignoring the positive of the grades before. This student’s emotion about being an idiot is also not fact. What we might feel about ourselves is not evidence that we are actually that which we feel we are. Again, there is the link between this thinking and the experience of exam stress.
Alternative thoughts for student B
“The last result was a blip. I have proved I can score well in science from my previous grades. I’ll ask my teacher which topics let me down in the mini-mock and focus on these in my revision.”
Example student C
“I just can’t get down to my exam revision. I keep putting it off by doing one more social media search….one more music download…..eating one more snack…. playing one more video game”
Well, student C is procrastinating! This form of putting off things is a behaviour experienced by a good number of us and can be underpinned by a range of factors in the typical UK student aged 15-21 who is faced with exams. Here’s some possible challenges and underlying causes for a procrastinating exam student
Avoidance – exams conjure up negative emotions of fear, perhaps boredom, and students will avoid revision to put off these emotions. But it’s a vicious circle. More putting off the more negative emotions.
Perfectionism – we all have these traits and some to an extreme, so students who are high perfectionists need to get things 100% right and if exams are likely to challenge that standard for them they are likely to do some putting off because 100% in an exam is pretty hard to achieve.
Performance anxiety – linked to avoidance in that exams can be associated with a fear of failure in some students
Planning and sequencing – some students just don’t know where to start or how to break down revision into steps and organise themselves to keep to a programme of revision, for example students who have ADHD.
Student D
“I really should get the best grades in my English and English Literature exams. I don’t enjoy these subjects but people have expectations of me and I can’t let them down. I should try harder with my revision.”
Student D may have a ‘rule for living’, as psychologists term it, that they should do their best in all situations. ‘Shoulds’ can sometimes be destructive ways of thinking and lead to stress, certainly in case of student D who is preparing for their exams.
Alternative thinking that student D might adopt is below
“this exam will offer me the chance to demonstrate what I know in this subject so I will give it a good go. If it doesn’t go well when results come out I can simply say that I prepared the best I could for the exams in subjects which are not my strong ones.”
Career counselling I have engaged in with students has enabled them to challenge ‘shoulds and musts’ thinking that they might engage in. Every student can make the effort to maximise their academic potential but this academic potential will vary between students. After all, many adults including myself will testify that they found their academic ceiling in their lifetimes.
>>Resources on thinking errors for students
Exam stress and exam anxiety
The saying has some truth to it; “there is good stress and bad stress.” Good stress can lead to a student being motivated to achieve well in exams and moderated adrenalin rushes can inspire performance in the examination hall and spur the procrastinating student to get down to revision. The constructive helpful thinking that can underpin this is.
“this exam gives me the chance to show what I know in this subject and whatever the outcome I will give it my best shot.”
It is when anxiety gets out of hand that students can think about techniques such as those in the weblinks and the video below. Anxiety about exams need not equal a mental health problem. Cognitive thinking techniques covered above can be used by anyone not just those with clinical anxiety. Parents can help their student child provided that there is dynamic of sharing within the household. If you are a student who ‘doesn’t let on’ then there might be a tutor or pastoral member of staff at school who you might want to be a listening ear. If you are a parent of a student who you know ‘doesn’t let on’ the links below make helpful suggestions.
If as a student you are anxious about your exams it is too easy for a careers professional to say that exam grades are not everything in life even though that is true. You are hardly suddenly become completely chilled about the whole exams matter if you are told that. You the student are after all immersed in competitive school/college learning environments and the message given by many is that exam grades are really important but this fails to see the context that to succeed in life and career students also need skills and helpful personal qualities to do well. If you think you are not smart academically it pays to remind yourself about skills you have in life and the best things people say about you as a person. These aspects of you are not going away and will serve you well in the future regardless of exam performance.
Alongside the possibility of unhelpful pressure from parents (which in my practise does exist for some students) there may also be pressure that the student experiences to live up to the previous exam success (and possibly linked career success) of older siblings. Again career counselling that I engage in helps students to recognise these dynamics and suggest ways of thinking about self and one’s own academic and career potential which can relieve stress.
Biological factors
Exam anxiety can become a mental health problem with symptoms such as loss of appetite, poor sleep, and low motivation. The video below highlights this biological nature of exam stress and anxiety and some of the links give helpful tips and techniques to prevent and relieve stress (and indeed distress) you might be experiencing. If you are the parent of a young person taking exams the links below will help you to know what to look out for and how to support.
Some students will have existing treatment for anxiety, through CAMHS or otherwise already and at exam time will certainly speak to their clinical professional, GP, or counsellor.
>>Resources for young people
Info on exam stress – for 11-18 year olds | Mind – Mind
GCSE | GCSE Revision Tips: How to Deal with Exam Stress
VIDEO https://youtu.be/-RZ86OB9hw4 Conquering exam stress – lessons from our bodies
>>Resources for parents/guardians
Exam Time & Exam Stress | Parents Guide To Support | YoungMinds
Planning revision
>>Resources for students
Top revision techniques for exams – BBC Bitesize
>>Resources for parents
Revision tips and how to manage exam stress: a guide for parents and guardians | UCAS
Other things in the mix
- Propensity to compare ourselves to others – many of us do this
- Careers advice and guidance – help to plan a career you are matched to with a path towards it that is achievable or at least review where your exams can lead to.
- Not having a plan B career goal if your plan A career goal is over-stretching and/or competitive to get into with respect to exam grades
- Having a block in Maths or English – some students just have this and they won’t necessarily have a SEND label.
Where does Career Lift-Off come in?
Career Counselling at times of exam stress can help relieve it by looking at ‘what-ifs’ and maybe other routes to career goals. Career goals and a plan to get there which have been realistically researched in terms of Labour Market Information and grade requirements (if college or university qualifications are required) will all help reduce the stress of passing exams. The concept of over-stretch does exist with respect to grades required for entry to particular college or university courses and again other fallback routes can be identified.
NB1– Career counselling differs from regular counselling which can address any life-issues a young person is experiencing.
NB2 – Career Lift-Off does not expressly endorse any of the organisations or authors of the content of the links and videos above.
Copyright – Michael Stockwell Career Lift-Off May 2025
