Leaving Cert 2025: Managing stress in the lead up to the exams

It can be difficult for leaving cert students to manage the stress they will experience over the coming months.

As preparations for the exams become more intense, stress levels can also begin to rise. Most students are facing into a particularly intense time in their lives and can become overwhelmed by the amount of revision they need to do.

It’s important that students are equipped with strategies to manage their stress levels to ensure that they can work consistently and stay up to date on the work they need to do.

There are two ways to manage stress; physical and cognitive. A dual approach is needed to ensure that students can remain calm and focused on what they need to do.

The first thing that students need to remember is that stress is relative to the person experiencing it. We tend to belittle the stresses we experience, and it’s also important to acknowledge when stress is becoming a problem.

We all react to stress differently and what can be stressful for one person might not be for another. It’s important that we all learn to notice how stress presents for us and learn the signs our minds and bodies are giving us and take actions to help reduce the stress we are feeling.

Good and bad stress

Stress is almost always associated with negative feelings and experiences. The term has become widely used to describe many of our day-to-day negative emotions or inconvenient experiences. This can make it difficult to notice when stress in our lives becomes too much and begins having a negative impact on our overall mood and ability to persevere through the challenges we are facing.

When stress becomes overwhelming, it’s important that students notice this and allow themselves to take breaks, talk with someone they trust about how they are feeling and learn how to manage their everyday stresses so that it doesn’t become too much to handle.

It can be difficult for young people to regulate their emotions, and they can often become overwhelmed by stress without being aware that this is what is happening. The adults in their lives can help them to manage their stress by noticing the signs for them.

The most frequent sign is a change in normal behaviour, increases in outbursts, withdrawal from usual activities and an inability to settle down to do schoolwork. Encouraging students to take breaks, talk about what is bothering them and being supportive can help them to gain perspective on the stress they are feeling and learn to manage it better.

However, not all stress is bad as we are often led to believe. Without healthy stressors in our lives, we wouldn’t be motivated to get out of bed in the morning and work towards the goals we set for ourselves.

As long as stress is managed well, it can be used as motivation for students to overcome the challenges that lie ahead.

Setting clear goals

Taking on too much at once or the perception that we have too much work to do can easily increase stress levels. Students will have a lot to cover between now and June. Trying to do too much too soon over the coming weeks will quickly lead to feeling overwhelmed and lead to an inability to focus.

Setting clear and manageable goals will help students feel that they are making progress, even though initially it might not be the progress they would like. However, by setting clear targets and working towards them will give a sense of accomplishment and sustain motivation over the longer term.

Taking action

When we are feeling overwhelmed by stress and feel that we do not have any control over our lives, one of the best things that we can do is take action,no matter how small it is.

For students, this might be as simple as revising one topic in one subject successfully. Any sense of achievement can help to build momentum, and small steps at first can help create a positive routine where students can revise productively.

Asking for help

There are times in our lives when stress can become so overwhelming that we feel we cannot do anything. Our thinking becomes clouded with anxiety, and it is almost impossible to plan and organise the work that we need to do. For students this can happen, and they can begin avoiding revision and schoolwork and become apathetic.

If this happens, it’s important to ask for help. Parents, teachers or another trusted adult can often help reframe problems and help students structure how they are thinking about the problems they are dealing with in a more structured way. Sharing difficulties and having someone listen can quickly redefine problems and highlight ways forward.