7 Step Wellbeing Checklist for Students to Beat Exam Stress
- Tom Ryder Wellbeing
- Jan 22
- 20 min read
Exam season often turns your normal routine upside down. Stress can keep you awake at night, disrupt your focus, and leave you feeling drained before you even open your notes. You are not alone if balancing revision, wellbeing, and pressure sometimes feels overwhelming.
The good news is there are practical strategies that genuinely help. Quality sleep, creative outlets, and healthy habits play a direct role in how well you cope and perform. Each technique in this list is designed to tackle exam anxiety, lift your energy, and support your mental clarity when you need it most.
Get ready to discover proven, actionable steps you can put in place right away. These insights will help you feel more prepared, calm, and confident as you face your next set of exams.
Table of Contents
Quick Summary
Takeaway | Explanation |
1. Prioritise Quality Sleep | A good night’s sleep enhances memory, focus, and stress resilience, directly impacting exam performance. Aim for consistent sleep patterns. |
2. Engage in Creative Outlets | Creative activities reduce stress and help manage exam anxiety. Spend time drawing, writing, or playing music to improve emotional resilience. |
3. Incorporate Daily Movement | Simple physical activities, even short ones, help regulate stress and improve mental focus. Aim for regular movement throughout your day. |
4. Take Regular Breaks | Listening to your emotions and taking intentional breaks enhances concentration and reduces stress. Ten-minute breaks increase effectiveness in studying. |
5. Foster Social Connections | Building supportive relationships reduces stress and helps maintain emotional wellbeing during exams. Aim for meaningful interactions with friends and family. |
1. Prioritise Quality Sleep for Energy and Focus
Your exam performance depends on something far simpler than you might think: how well you sleep the night before. When your brain is properly rested, it processes information faster, recalls facts more reliably, and handles the stress of exam conditions with greater resilience. Yet many students sacrifice sleep thinking they’ll squeeze in more revision time. What actually happens is the opposite.
The research is clear on this point. Poor sleep leads to fatigue and irritability, both of which directly undermine academic performance. Your memory, concentration, and ability to think clearly all depend on adequate rest. When you’re exhausted, even simple exam questions feel harder. Your brain struggles to access information you actually know. You become more prone to mistakes and less able to manage the anxiety that exams naturally bring.
The problem is that exam stress often disrupts sleep patterns in the weeks leading up to your exams. You might find yourself lying awake, your mind cycling through everything you haven’t yet revised. Or you might turn to “revenge bedtime procrastination” – staying up late watching videos or scrolling because you need to feel like you’re reclaiming some time for yourself. These habits seem harmless in the moment but compound into a sleep debt that catches up with you when you need your mind at its sharpest.
Building consistency around sleep means treating it like a non-negotiable exam preparation tool, not something to sacrifice. This means aiming for roughly the same bedtime and wake time each day, even on weekends. Your body thrives on rhythm. When you keep irregular hours, your sleep becomes fragmented and less restorative. Seven to nine hours is the target most students aim for, though you might find you need slightly more during particularly stressful revision periods.
In the days before your exams, protect your sleep ruthlessly. That means creating an environment that supports rest: a cool, dark room with minimal distractions. It means stepping away from screens at least thirty minutes before bed, as the blue light can interfere with the melatonin your body needs to feel sleepy. It also means being honest about caffeine. A coffee in the afternoon might feel like it helps you focus, but it can interfere with sleep quality that night, leaving you less sharp the following day.
When exam stress feels overwhelming and sleep becomes difficult, remember that sleep deprivation itself amplifies anxiety. The more tired you are, the more anxious you feel. The more anxious you feel, the harder it becomes to sleep. Breaking this cycle means prioritising rest even when your mind tells you there’s too much to revise. A good night’s sleep will actually help you retain information better than an extra hour of tired revision ever could.
Pro tip Set a consistent bedtime alarm on your phone during exam season, not just a wake-up alarm. This reminds you to start winding down and protects against the creeping habit of staying up just a bit longer each night.
2. Use Creative Outlets to Manage Stress
When exam pressure builds, your instinct might be to push harder and revise longer. But one of the most effective ways to manage stress is to step away from your textbooks and engage in something creative. Whether you draw, write, play music, or make something with your hands, creative activities offer your mind a genuine break while simultaneously helping you process stress and anxiety.
Creativity works differently than revision. When you’re studying, your brain is in “absorb and analyse” mode. When you’re creating, your brain shifts into “express and explore” mode. This switch is valuable because it gives your nervous system a chance to calm down. Creative activities such as drawing and clay modelling can significantly reduce stress levels among students during demanding periods. The act of creating something, anything, helps you move away from the endless loop of “Will I remember this? Will I pass?” and into a space where you’re simply doing something that feels manageable and, often, enjoyable.
Beyond just feeling nice, creative outlets actually improve your emotional resilience. Research shows that creative coping is positively correlated with better academic emotions and reduced negative emotions. This means that students who use creative activities as a stress management strategy report feeling better emotionally and more capable of handling the pressures they face. Your brain is essentially learning a new pathway for managing difficult feelings. Instead of letting anxiety build up, you’re channelling it into something tangible.
The beauty of this approach is that you don’t need to be naturally talented. You don’t need to be “good” at art or music or writing. The value isn’t in the finished product but in the process itself. Drawing doesn’t have to look perfect. Writing can be messy first drafts that no one else sees. Playing an instrument doesn’t require performance level skill. Even simple activities like doodling whilst listening to music or building something with your hands count as creative outlets. The point is that you’re engaging a different part of your brain and giving yourself permission to do something that isn’t about productivity or grades.
During exam season, aim to carve out even small pockets of creative time. Ten minutes of sketching, twenty minutes playing guitar, an hour working on a creative project you care about. These aren’t distractions from your exam preparation. They’re actually part of it. They help regulate your emotions, reduce your stress, and return you to revision in a calmer, more focused state. You’ll find that after a creative break, you often retain information better because you’re not approaching it from a place of panic.
If you’re not sure what creative outlet suits you, start by thinking about what used to engage you before exams became your entire world. What did you enjoy making or doing? Photography, cooking, writing, music, painting, pottery, crafting, journalling. The answer doesn’t matter as much as finding something that feels like a genuine escape and that you can return to regularly without guilt.
Pro tip Schedule creative time into your revision timetable as you would any other subject. Treat it as non-negotiable study support, not as procrastination, and you’ll be far more likely to actually do it when stress builds.
3. Stay Active with Simple Daily Movement
Movement is one of the most underrated stress management tools available to you. When exam pressure builds, your body holds onto tension. Your shoulders creep up towards your ears. Your chest tightens. Your legs feel restless. Physical activity is the antidote to this physical manifestation of stress, yet many students abandon exercise entirely during exam season, thinking they should be sitting at a desk instead.
Here’s what actually happens when you move your body. Exercise triggers the release of endorphins, your brain’s natural mood regulators. It gives your nervous system a chance to discharge the stress hormones like cortisol that build up during intense studying. When you move, you’re not just doing something good for your physical health. You’re actively managing your emotional state and improving your capacity to handle pressure. The movement doesn’t need to be intense or time consuming. A twenty minute walk, ten minutes of stretching, or a quick dance session to your favourite song all count.
The key word here is simple. You’re not training for a marathon or preparing for a fitness competition. You’re using movement as a tool to regulate your nervous system and break the mental loop of exam anxiety. This means that the best movement for you during exam season is movement you’ll actually do. If you hate running, don’t force yourself to run. If you love walking, do that. If you prefer dancing in your room or playing a sport with friends, those are equally valid options.
Consider building movement into your daily routine in ways that don’t require extra time or motivation. Walk to campus instead of taking the bus. Take the stairs instead of the lift. Do a few stretches between revision sessions. Stand whilst reading notes rather than sitting. Go for a walk when you need a mental break instead of scrolling on your phone. These small moments of activity add up significantly throughout the day and help maintain a baseline of physical activation that counteracts the tension stress creates.
During particularly intense revision periods, even five to ten minutes of movement can shift your mental state. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by an exam paper, step away and do some jumping jacks, go for a quick walk around the block, or do some yoga poses. You’ll return to your revision feeling noticeably calmer and more able to focus. Your brain actually processes information better when your body has had a chance to move and release tension.
The bonus of staying active is that it improves sleep quality, boosts your immune system during stressful times, and gives you something to do that isn’t exam related. All of these knock on effects support your overall wellbeing during exam season. Movement isn’t a distraction from exam preparation. It’s a foundational part of taking care of yourself so you can perform at your best.
Pro tip Add movement to your revision timetable at specific times rather than treating it as something you’ll squeeze in if you have energy. A scheduled ten minute walk after two hours of studying becomes a realistic habit rather than an afterthought.
4. Listen to Your Emotions and Take Small Breaks
Your emotions during exam season are sending you important messages. When you feel overwhelmed, frustrated, or anxious, that’s not a sign of weakness or failure. It’s your mind and body telling you something needs attention. The problem is that most students try to push through these emotions, treating them as obstacles to ignore rather than signals to listen to.
Listening to your emotions means tuning into what you’re actually feeling rather than judging yourself for feeling it. Are you anxious? That makes sense given what you’re preparing for. Are you frustrated because the material isn’t clicking? That’s a signal that you might need a different approach or a break to reset. Are you irritable and snappy with people around you? Your nervous system is overstimulated and needs downtime. When you acknowledge these emotional signals instead of fighting them, you gain valuable information about what you actually need in that moment.
The connection between emotional awareness and exam performance is more direct than you might think. Acknowledging your emotions and pacing revision with breaks helps you manage stress and maintain focus. In other words, the moment you notice you’re becoming stressed or losing concentration, that’s the moment to take action rather than push harder. This isn’t procrastination. It’s strategic self care that actually improves your ability to study effectively.
Small breaks are not a luxury or a waste of revision time. They’re essential maintenance for your brain. Your concentration naturally dips after about forty five minutes to an hour of focused work. Trying to push past this point becomes increasingly inefficient. You’re no longer absorbing information effectively. You’re just sitting there, reading the same paragraph three times without registering it. A ten or fifteen minute break resets your mental focus, allowing you to return to revision with renewed attention and energy.
The type of break matters. Scrolling through social media whilst telling yourself you’re taking a break doesn’t actually give your mind the reset it needs. Real breaks involve stepping away from your desk and your screens. Go outside for a few minutes. Make a cup of tea and drink it mindfully rather than whilst reading notes. Chat with a friend. Do some stretches. Look at something green. These small moments of genuine mental disengagement allow your brain to consolidate what you’ve just learned whilst also reducing the stress hormones that build up during intense study.
Using relaxation techniques and scheduled breaks during study sessions improves your well-being and exam performance. This isn’t just about feeling better in the moment, though that matters. Regular breaks actually make you a more efficient learner. You retain more information. You make fewer mistakes. You return to each study session with better focus and resilience.
Trust yourself to know when you need a break. Your body is wise. When you feel tension building, when your eyes are strained, when your thoughts are becoming cloudy, that’s not a sign to push harder. That’s a sign to step away. A five minute break now prevents you from burning out entirely and losing hours of productive study time later.
Pro tip Set a timer for forty five minutes of focused revision, then take a ten minute break before starting the next session. This creates a sustainable rhythm that matches your brain’s natural capacity for concentration rather than fighting against it.
5. Connect with Nature for Calm and Clarity
There’s something about being outside that shifts your perspective almost instantly. When exam stress feels suffocating, stepping into a park, garden, or even just sitting under a tree can create space in your mind that revision alone never does. Nature isn’t a distraction from your exam preparation. It’s actually a powerful tool for managing the stress that makes preparation harder.
The science behind this is straightforward. When you’re in nature, your nervous system genuinely calms down. Your heart rate slows. Your breathing becomes deeper. The part of your brain that runs the stress response gets a chance to settle. Connecting with nature, including parks and green spaces, significantly supports emotional well-being and stress reduction. Even small interactions with natural environments improve mood and help you gain mental clarity. You don’t need to hike for hours or escape to the countryside, though those are wonderful if you can. A fifteen minute walk in a local park, sitting on campus grass, or even looking at trees from a window provides measurable benefits.
What makes nature particularly valuable during exam stress is that it helps regulate your emotional responses. Anxiety and panic can feel overwhelming because your brain gets stuck in a loop of worried thoughts. When you’re in nature, your attention naturally shifts. You notice birdsong, the movement of leaves, the texture of bark. This shift in attention interrupts the anxiety cycle. Your mind gets a genuine break from the exam thoughts that have been dominating it. Exposure to natural environments improves emotional regulation and reduces anxiety and depression, providing the psychological stability students need when facing exam pressures.
The clarity you gain from time in nature is equally important. When you’ve been staring at notes for hours, your thinking becomes narrow and repetitive. You get stuck on a problem or a concept that won’t click. When you step outside and let your mind wander amidst natural surroundings, something shifts. You return to that difficult concept with fresh perspective. Solutions that seemed impossible suddenly feel achievable. Ideas that weren’t forming click into place. This isn’t magic. It’s your brain getting the mental rest it needs to function properly.
Finding time for nature during exam season doesn’t require grand gestures. Build small moments into your day. Walk to campus through a park instead of taking the direct route. Study outside if weather permits. Sit near a window with natural light and views of trees. Take a ten minute break in green space between revision sessions. Even these small doses of nature help reduce stress and improve your ability to focus when you return to studying.
If you’re in an urban area with limited green space, remember that any nature counts. A potted plant on your desk, a view of sky, birds visiting a window, or even walking past trees provides benefit. Your brain responds to natural elements and patterns, not just vast wilderness. The point is to create regular contact with something living and growing, something that exists outside the artificial pressure of exams.
Treating nature as part of your wellbeing strategy during exams means seeing it as equally important to revision time. Both contribute to your exam performance. Both deserve space in your schedule.
Pro tip Schedule at least one outdoor break into your daily revision timetable, even if it’s just ten minutes. Commit to going outside at the same time each day so it becomes a reliable anchor point in your week rather than something that depends on motivation.
6. Build Supportive Social Connections
Exam stress can feel isolating. You’re caught up in your own revision, worried about your own performance, and it’s easy to assume everyone else is fine whilst you’re struggling. The truth is that your peers are likely experiencing similar anxiety and stress. Building genuine social connections during exam season isn’t a luxury or a distraction. It’s one of the most powerful protective factors available to you.
Social support works as a buffer against stress in multiple ways. When you talk to someone about what you’re feeling, you’re not just venting. You’re gaining perspective. Your friend might say something that reframes your worry. They might share their own exam fears, which reminds you that anxiety is a normal part of this process, not a personal failing. They might make you laugh at a moment when you’ve been too serious for too long. Each of these interactions genuinely reduces your stress response. Social support from friends, family, and academic communities is a critical protective factor for mental health, reducing stress and enhancing resilience during stressful periods.
The key distinction is between social connection and social distraction. Mindlessly scrolling through group chats where everyone’s comparing how much they’ve revised isn’t social connection. That often amplifies anxiety. Real social connection involves genuine interaction. It might be sitting with a friend whilst you both revise, with permission to chat when you need a break. It might be having a proper conversation with someone where you’re not just talking about exams. It might be a phone call with family who care about you beyond your grades.
Different types of social connection serve different purposes. Your close friends provide emotional support. They understand you and can listen without judgment. Your study group provides practical support. You can work through difficult concepts together and feel less alone in the struggle. Your family provides continuity and perspective. They remind you that there’s life beyond exams. Your wider campus community provides connection and belonging. Knowing you’re part of a community of students all navigating the same pressures helps normalise the stress you’re experiencing.
People with stronger perceived social support experience measurably lower stress levels during academic challenges. This isn’t just emotional comfort. Your body literally produces fewer stress hormones when you feel genuinely supported. Your immune system functions better. Your sleep improves. Your ability to concentrate strengthens. All of these directly support better exam performance.
The challenge during exam season is that social connection takes time and energy you feel you don’t have. This is where prioritisation becomes crucial. You need to build connection strategically rather than trying to maintain all your usual social commitments. This might mean having shorter but more meaningful interactions. A twenty minute phone call with someone who truly understands you matters more than hours spent in surface level social media interaction. A revision session with one close friend where you can actually talk matters more than sitting alone in the library for eight hours.
You don’t need a large social circle to experience the benefits of social support. A few genuine connections where you feel heard and supported provide substantial protection against exam stress. These might be friends in your course, friends from home, family members, or even online communities of people facing similar challenges. The quality of the connection matters far more than the quantity.
Being socially supported also means being willing to ask for help when you need it. This might feel uncomfortable if you’re used to managing everything independently. But letting someone know you’re struggling, asking if they have time to chat, or requesting practical help like someone quizzing you on material is actually a sign of strength, not weakness. It creates opportunities for genuine connection that benefit both people.
Pro tip Set a specific time each week for genuine social connection that isn’t about comparing exam stress. Whether it’s coffee with a friend, a phone call home, or a study session where conversation is welcome, protect this time as firmly as you protect revision time.
7. Create a Personal Action Plan for Wellbeing
Knowing what to do and actually doing it are two entirely different things. You might understand intellectually that sleep matters, that movement helps, that connection supports you. But without a concrete plan, these insights remain abstract ideas rather than lived practices. A personal action plan for wellbeing turns this checklist from good intentions into genuine change.
An action plan works because it transforms vague goals into specific, manageable steps. Instead of thinking “I should manage my stress better,” you identify exactly what that looks like for you. Maybe it’s going for a walk three times weekly. Maybe it’s texting a friend every other day. Maybe it’s setting a bedtime alarm and honouring it five nights a week. These specific commitments are far more likely to happen than generalisations about “doing better.”
Creating your plan begins with reflection. Identifying focus areas and assessing what control you have over issues allows you to set achievable steps for managing wellbeing. Look back at the six areas you’ve just read about. Which feels most neglected in your current routine? Which one, if you improved it, would make the biggest difference to how you feel? Start there. You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. One or two focused changes create momentum that often naturally leads to other improvements.
Once you’ve identified your focus area, get specific. Don’t say “I’ll sleep better.” Say “I’ll aim for eight hours of sleep, which means bedtime at eleven and wake time at seven.” Don’t say “I’ll move more.” Say “I’ll take a thirty minute walk on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after my morning classes.” Don’t say “I’ll manage stress.” Say “I’ll spend fifteen minutes drawing or journalling on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.” Specificity matters because it removes the daily decision of whether to do something. You’ve already decided.
Your plan should include what you’ll do, when you’ll do it, and why it matters to you. That “why” is crucial. If you’re doing something because you think you should, you’ll abandon it when pressure builds. If you’re doing it because you genuinely understand how it helps you, you’re far more likely to persist. Connect each action back to how it will actually make you feel. Better sleep means you think more clearly during exams. Regular movement means you feel calmer and more able to handle pressure. Social connection means you feel less isolated by stress.
Your plan also needs to include what gets in your way and how you’ll handle it. Maybe you know that revising late means you skip your bedtime. So you commit to stopping revision at ten. Maybe you know that when you feel anxious you cancel plans. So you book coffee with a friend and make a rule that you can’t cancel without a genuine emergency. Reflecting on triggers, strengths, and support needs helps you build resilience and manage exam related stress. Anticipating obstacles and planning for them dramatically increases your chances of following through.
Your action plan isn’t fixed forever. It should be reviewed regularly, ideally weekly. What worked this week? What felt impossible? What needs adjusting? If you committed to five things and only managed one, that’s valuable information. Maybe you’re being unrealistic about how much you can take on whilst revising. Or maybe certain actions need different timing or support. Flexibility isn’t failure. It’s wisdom. Your plan should work for your life, not the other way around.
The final piece is accountability. This might mean telling a friend what you’re committing to. It might mean tracking your progress in a simple note on your phone. It might mean checking in with yourself weekly about what you’ve managed. You’re not aiming for perfection. You’re aiming for consistency. If you manage your commitment eighty percent of the time, that’s genuinely valuable. Eighty percent of good sleep, movement, and connection through exam season makes a measurable difference to how you feel and perform.
Your action plan is personal to you. Building a wellbeing routine for lasting balance requires understanding what genuinely works for your unique situation. What matters is that it reflects your actual life and your real priorities. A plan you’ll actually follow is infinitely more valuable than a perfect plan you’ll abandon after a week.
Pro tip Write your action plan down and put it somewhere you’ll see it daily. A note on your mirror, a reminder on your phone, or a physical checklist keeps your commitments visible and makes it far easier to follow through when exam stress makes your brain foggy.
Below is a comprehensive table summarising the key points and recommendations outlined in the article regarding strategies for maintaining well-being and improving exam performance through proper self-care and lifestyle adaptation.
Topic | Core Insights | Recommended Actions |
Quality Sleep | Adequate sleep enhances mental clarity, memory, and stress management. | Maintain a consistent sleep schedule, create a restful environment, and avoid stimulants like caffeine before bedtime. |
Creative Outlets | Engaging in creative activities reduces stress and promotes emotional resilience. | Dedicate time to hobbies such as drawing, writing, or playing music as part of your daily routine. |
Daily Movement | Simple physical activities alleviate stress and elevate mood. | Incorporate short exercises, like walking or stretching, into your schedule for mental refreshment and relaxation. |
Emotion Awareness and Breaks | Recognising and addressing emotions can prevent burnout and sustain focus. | Take breaks after study sessions and practise relaxing activities to reset attention and cope with challenging feelings. |
Nature Interaction | Exposure to natural environments reduces anxiety and fosters cognitive clarity. | Spend time outdoors regularly, even for short periods, to benefit from the calming effects of nature. |
Social Support | Connecting with others provides essential emotional and academic support. | Engage in meaningful conversations with peers, family, or mentors about experiences and strategies for exams. |
Well-Being Action Plan | A structured approach to self-care ensures consistency and effectiveness in managing stress. | Draft and follow a tailored action plan for health and revision, reviewing weekly for adjustments based on outcomes. |
Summary | Combining these strategies optimises both mental health and academic preparedness, leading to improved overall performance. | Integrate these practices as part of your daily exam-preparation routine for sustainable benefits. |
Move Beyond Exam Stress with Practical Wellbeing Support
The “7 Step Wellbeing Checklist for Students to Beat Exam Stress” highlights challenges like poor sleep, overwhelming anxiety, and difficulty managing stress that can stop you performing at your best. If exam pressure has left you feeling stuck, exhausted, or uncertain about how to bring balance back into your life, you are not alone. This checklist aligns closely with the SCALES Model used at Tom Ryder Wellbeing which focuses on Sleep, Creativity, Activity, Listening to emotions, connection with Earth, and Social support — all essential to restore mental and emotional strength.
Take control now with tailored Mental Health & Wellbeing Coaching or explore targeted Stress Management Coaching designed to help you build small, sustainable routines that lift your energy and resilience. Whether you need one-to-one coaching or group sessions, Tom’s honest, practical approach will guide you through clear steps to better sleep, better focus, and healthier stress management. Don’t wait until exam stress overwhelms you — start your journey to feeling better today by visiting Tom Ryder Wellbeing and discovering how coaching can make the difference you deserve.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can prioritising quality sleep improve my exam performance?
Improving the quality of your sleep directly enhances your focus and memory, which are vital for exam success. Aim for consistent sleep patterns by going to bed and waking up at the same time each day to ensure you get seven to nine hours of restful sleep.
What creative outlets can I pursue to help manage exam stress?
Engaging in creative activities, such as drawing, writing, or playing music, can significantly reduce stress and improve emotional resilience. Set aside even ten to twenty minutes each day for a creative activity to support your wellbeing and regulate anxiety during intense study periods.
What types of movement should I incorporate into my daily routine during exams?
Incorporate simple forms of movement, such as walking, stretching, or dancing, to release physical tension and boost your mood. Even short bursts of activity, like a ten-minute walk after a study session, can help you manage stress and improve concentration during exams.
How do I effectively listen to my emotions during exam season?
Listening to your emotions means acknowledging feelings of anxiety or frustration rather than ignoring them. Take strategic breaks when you notice negative emotions building, allowing yourself to engage in activities that promote relaxation and clarity, which can enhance your focus on studying.
Why is connecting with nature beneficial for students facing exam stress?
Connecting with nature has calming effects that can help regulate stress responses and improve mental clarity. Schedule short breaks outside, even just ten minutes in a park, to help elevate your mood and gain fresh perspectives on your study material.
How can I create a personal action plan for my wellbeing during exams?
To create an effective action plan, identify specific wellbeing goals such as improving sleep or increasing social connections. Write down actionable steps, like committing to regular exercise or scheduled social interactions, and review your plan weekly to ensure consistency and adaptability.
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