300 School Pupils Tackle Exam Stress

GCSE and A-level students are encouraged to join a programme to learn how to cope with exam stress.

As mock exam season looms, one man is trying to ease the anxiety among children and young people with his Exam Pressure Solutions Programme.

The initiative was set up last year but has boomed in popularity recently, with more than 300 students signing up and four more schools expressing interest.

Scott Eastwood, a school counsellor who has worked with young islanders for many years, says he recognises that schools in Britain focus almost exclusively on revision and exam practice.

"It is very important, but some students need more than this, and they need ways of managing the stress and anxiety that can often accompany exams."

Statistics show around 85% of students can cope with exam stress or are not affected by it at all, although this leaves 15% of pupils whose grades are negatively-impacted by the pressure.

GCSE and A-level students who join the programme will be taught how to deal with their anxieties in various ways.

Scott explains this includes working on motivation and managing physical signs of stress.

"[This includes] controlling the heart rate and sweaty palms, and all those sorts of things, and also planning for exam worries, we make a plan for helping them to manage those if they were to come up in the exam."