With midterms currently underway and approaching fast, students are feeling the stress. To some, these exams are worth a lot of their grade and some are worth a little.

Lethbridge College student Stephanie Mueller really feels the stress of exams.

“If I have some tests upcoming in the week, it’s all that I think about all day. ‘Oh, I have to study. Oh, don’t blank for the test. Don’t stay up too late. you need to get sleep or you’re going to fail.’”

This self-talk is one of the reasons that exam stress affects her mental health negatively and brings her extra stressors and anxiety.

Mueller stays on top of notes by adding in extra little things that her teachers go through in the lecture with different colour of pens.

Using different pens boosts her confidence with upcoming tests and finds it easier to study.

“I don’t study the morning of the exam and for me this prevents my brain from burning out before I even get to the exam. I try and get a good sleep, have a good breakfast, and then proceed to do the exam,” Mueller says.

Mueller says that she usually gives herself a healthy day until the exam so she can feel confident in herself.

Dianne Fjordbotten is a part of the team over at learning services and she says that the self-talk is a very distracting thing and if you can catch yourself doing it then it can help you.

“It’s so important when you catch yourself moving into that negative self-talk spiral to stop yourself and replace it with positive messages.

If you get test anxiety, you can visit Anxietycanada.com for tips and tricks on how to deal with your anxiety.

“One of the things that students haven’t practiced doing is belly breathing or deep breathing, and that deep breathing can just kind of give you a reset.”

Visit the Health and wellness page on the Lethbridge College website for apps and other ways you can deal with exam stress.