By Jordan Bickham
Staff Writer

Throughout the past few weeks, students have been stressing out and working hard as they prepare for AP and IB exams.  Now that the exams are here, everyone’s main focus should be on keeping calm and not worrying too much.  With so many exams and so much to do, staying calm and collected can be a challenge, but with these tips, exam week should be a breeze.

1.  Deep, calm breathing is always a great first step to staying calm in a stressful situation.  When you take deeper breaths from your abdomen, rather than shallow breaths from the chest, you obtain more oxygen which causes stress levels to decrease.

2.  Another great, in-the-moment strategy to deal with stress is simple visualization in which you only need a bit of imagination.  When faced with a stressful situation, visualize a calming image in your mind such as a beach or the ocean in order to calm yourself down.

3.  Lastly, one important stress reliever to keep in mind during exam week is simply staying focused.  The more mindful you are of stress, the easier it is to decrease stress levels.  By staying focused on the task at hand, it becomes easier to ignore anxiety and stress.

If you want to see more detailed explanations of the tips above as well as more tips to deal with the stress, check out this website.  So keep calm and learn how to deal with stress during these exam weeks.  Good luck on your exams CHS!