Reading Time
3 min read
Written By
Alyx JordanFounder, Ivy MathsIn this article
Some nerves before a maths exam are normal, and a bit of adrenaline can help you stay sharp. The trouble starts when nerves take over the paper itself: your mind goes blank, you rush, and you lose marks on questions you could do at home.
In maths, that tends to happen at one particular moment.
1. The moment that sets nerves off
A common pattern goes like this. Early in the paper there's a question you can't start. You stay on it, the clock moves, and the worry spreads to every question after it.
The most useful thing you can do about maths nerves, then, is decide in advance what you'll do when that question appears.
2. Have a skip rule
Before the exam, set yourself a rule such as this one: if I can't see how to start a question within a minute, I put a mark in the margin and move on, and come back at the end.
It helps to know your timing. A 2 hour Pearson Edexcel iGCSE paper worth 100 marks gives you a little over a minute per mark, so a 4-mark question is worth about 5 minutes. Check the figures on your own papers. Papers generally get harder towards the end, though not evenly, so there are usually marks to pick up after the question that stopped you.
3. Make the exam feel familiar
Exam rooms feel stressful partly because they're unusual: silence, a clock on the wall, no notes. You can take some of that away by practising in the same conditions at home. Do at least one full paper in one sitting, timed, at a table, with no phone and only the equipment you're allowed.
The first attempt will probably feel uncomfortable. By the third, sitting still with a paper for 90 minutes will be something you've done before.
4. Write the worry down
One study is worth knowing about. Ramirez and Beilock (2011) asked students to spend ten minutes writing about their worries just before a high-pressure test. Those students did better than students who didn't, and in their classroom study the benefit showed up for the students who were most anxious about tests.
You don't need a formal exercise. The night before, or in the morning, write a few lines about what's worrying you. Putting it on paper seems to leave more room in your head for the maths.
5. The night before and the morning
Pack your kit the night before, so the morning has fewer decisions in it.
- Black pens, at least two
- Pencil, eraser and a ruler
- Protractor and a pair of compasses
- Scientific calculator with a working battery, for calculator papers
- A see-through pencil case
Don't start new topics the night before. Look over your mistakes page or a few secure topics, then stop and do something else. A late night of cramming tends to cost more in sleep than it gains in marks.
6. For parents
Children pick up on adult worry as well as their own. In the days before an exam it helps to keep routines normal, to ask what they've got on rather than how much revision they've done, and to go through the kit list with them the night before.
If worry about exams is affecting sleep, eating or mood for more than a short spell, or your child is avoiding school, talk to their form tutor or the school's pastoral team, and speak to your GP if it carries on. In some cases schools can apply for access arrangements such as supervised rest breaks; the SENCo is the person to ask.
7. Know your gaps before the exam does
A lot of exam worry comes from not knowing what will come up and whether you can do it. The Ivy Maths Full Assessment works through your year group's whole course and shows which topics are secure and which aren't, so the topics that could catch you out are named in advance. Take a Full Assessment a few weeks before the exam, then spend your last revision sessions on the topics it flags.