“Everyone feels like this before exams, right?”

“It’s normal to feel like this. Everyone gets nervous before exams.”

You tell yourself this as you sit staring at revision notes that won’t stick in your head. As sleep becomes impossible the night before a test. Your mind goes blank the moment you turn over the exam paper even though you knew the material perfectly yesterday. Yes, everyone gets a bit nervous, but this feels like something more. Your brain feels overwhelmed!

Throughout my years as a Teacher, I’ve worked with countless young people facing exams and tests. I’ve seen students who are perfectly capable convince themselves they’ll fail. I’ve watched bright, talented young adults freeze under pressure, their minds betraying them at the exact moment they get to show how amazing they are. The phrase “It’s just exam stress.” doesn’t capture how overwhelming it feels.

What is going on?

Your brain is designed to protect you and when it senses extreme challenge, change or a potential threat it goes into survival mode. For some people, exams trigger this response intensely. Your primitive brain floods your system with stress hormones like adrenaline or cortisol, trying to keep you safe from what it perceives as physical danger.

The problem is that this response makes it harder to remember the information. When you’re anxious, your brain prioritises scanning for threats over processing information or retrieving facts and skills. That’s why you can revise a topic for weeks and still draw a blank in the exam room. Your stressed brain has temporarily blocked access to information that’s in there because it needs to deal with the ‘danger’ first.

The cycle becomes self-fulfilling. You worry about not remembering the information, which makes you anxious, which makes it harder to remember, which gives you more to worry about. Add in the well-intentioned pressure from family, teachers or even from yourself about grades and your future and your stress bucket can overflow quickly.

What can we do about it?

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy for young adults, or anyone facing exam or test pressure, focuses on understanding what your brain is doing and why. Once you realise that going blank isn’t because ‘you’re not clever enough’ or ‘didn’t revise enough’, but because your brain is in the wrong mode, it changes everything.

The sessions help you develop strategies to keep your stress bucket at a manageable level during revision periods. You learn techniques to calm your nervous system, before and during exams, so your brain can access all that information you’ve worked so hard to learn. The trance work is particularly helpful because it trains your brain to associate exam situations with calm focus rather than a situation where panic is the go-to response.

Many young people and adults who I work with are surprised at how much better they perform when they’re not fighting against their own anxiety. It’s not about working harder … it’s about working ‘with your brain’ instead of against it.

Is it the right time to change?

Exam anxiety can affect not just your grades but your entire experience of education and learning. It can make you dread going to school, avoid subjects you’re really interested in or feel like you’re constantly falling short of your potential.

Are you nodding to yourself right now? Is it the right time for you now?

Do you want to walk into future exams feeling prepared and ready to show the world what you know?

Do you want the test results to reflect your true understanding?

Do you want your brain and your body to work for you?

If any of these feel true for you, that’s your answer.