SQA Results Day is Coming!

As the clocks count down to SQA's Higher Maths Results Day, for many Students (and their families), the stress levels can start rising. Recognising this is a genuine source of stress matters: Managing stress when waiting for results might be useful for you.

But what else can you do between now and then?

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Memories Don't Always Play Fair!

Walking out of the exam, what was immediately going round and round in your head?

I bet it wasn't all the things you did well, or how you aced Q7, but the awful feeling you had when you couldn't start Q11, or the total panic after, when you thought you'd arrived at a different answer to everyone else!

Several weeks later and the only memories you have left of the exam are those associated with the strong emotions you felt back then.

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Reframe the Negative Memories

What you remember and what you felt is perfectly valid; however, this does tend to colour the whole scene.

How about thinking about it as a small part of the bigger picture?

Even if you got those stress-inducing questions completely wrong, how many marks did you actually lose? On average a full question is worth just over 4 marks, equivalent to 3.6%. Perhaps you totally bombed 4 questions. Build in a few marks lost here and there due to careless errors (0.8% per mark) and some lost to answering just part of a question.

Is it really as bad as your memory is telling you?

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It's Behind You!

You know you handled the papers the best way you could, on that day, in that moment.

By now your papers will have been marked, inputted into the system and your grade already allocated. So why waste your time fretting over something that (a) your memory is probably deceiving you about, and (b) you have zero control over?

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Not Convinced?

The rational logical-thinking you knows it makes sense, but the trickster part of your memory isn't going to give up that easily! And it's your feelings you're living with.

If it all feels a little overwhelming, this article by Action Mental Health, Dealing with exam results stress may help.

How about using that negative mental energy to create something positive?

Each time you catch yourself having a negative thought about your possible Higher Maths exam result, try to imagine yourself now living in your future Plan B. Not just any Plan B, but one of the ten Plan B's of 'Life Without Maths' you could be happy in.

You don't need to lose sight of your main goal, but learning how to build up a repertoire of alternatives for yourself now means you're already developing a superpower - resilience for all the things life could throw at Future You!

‍You've Got This!