Why exam season feels so hard — and what actually helps
Has the mood at home shifted in the last couple of weeks? Shorter tempers, broken sleep, the odd tearful evening over a practice paper? Don’t worry — you’re certainly not alone. With GCSEs, A Levels and IB exams starting in early May, the pressure is building, and teenagers feel it in ways that can catch parents off guard.
The good news is that there’s a straightforward explanation for most of it, and some surprisingly simple things you can do to help.
Stress makes it harder to learn
When your child feels under threat (and looming exams certainly qualify) their body releases a stress hormone called cortisol. A small burst of it is actually helpful: it sharpens focus and raises alertness, which is why a little pre-exam nervousness can improve performance.
The trouble starts when that stress doesn’t let up. When cortisol stays high for days or weeks on end, it begins to interfere with the brain’s ability to form and retrieve memories. So the harder your child pushes through without a break, the less effectively they’re actually learning. It’s not laziness or a lack of willpower — it’s their brain telling them something needs to change.
Sleep is doing more than you think
While your child sleeps, their brain is busy replaying the day’s learning and filing it away into long-term memory. Skip the sleep, and that filing doesn’t happen properly. Research consistently shows that teenagers who get eight to nine hours a night perform better than those who trade rest for extra cramming.
Late-night revision sessions might feel productive, but they’re borrowing from tomorrow’s brainpower. A consistent bedtime, and screens off an hour before, is one of the most effective things you can encourage right now.
Incidentally, Thursday 23 April is Shakespeare Day, the 462nd anniversary of his birth. For students revising Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet, watching a film adaptation before bed counts as revision — and it’s a lot kinder on the brain than another hour of notes.
Get them moving
Even twenty minutes of exercise, for example a walk, a bike ride, a kickabout, does something measurable to the brain. It increases blood flow, lowers stress hormones, and triggers the release of a protein that helps build new connections between brain cells. In plain terms: a break spent moving makes the revision that follows more effective, not less.
Wednesday 22 April is Earth Day, and this year’s theme is Our Power, Our Planet. It’s a ready-made reason to get outside. An hour in the fresh air — a walk in the park, a cycle or scoot, reading on a bench — will do more for your child’s revision than another hour at the desk.
Four things that make a difference
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Protect sleep. A regular bedtime and no screens in the last hour before it. This one change can shift everything.
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Build in movement. A walk after lunch, a run before dinner — whatever fits. Treat it as part of the revision plan, not competition for it.
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Change the dinner question. Swap “how much have you done today?” for “how are you feeling about things?” The first adds pressure. The second opens a conversation.
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Be the calm in the house. If you’re visibly anxious about their exams, they’ll absorb it. Quiet confidence goes a long way: “you’ve prepared well, and we’re proud of you.”
We’re here if you need us
If your child would benefit from some extra support before exams — help with a tricky subject, exam technique, or just a calm, experienced tutor to work alongside — please get in touch at info@oxfordtutors.com or call +44 (0)1865 655660.
