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Writer's pictureDana J Fryer, MS, RDN, LDN

The Importance of Stress Management When Studying for an Exam

You always hear me talk about the importance of quality > quantity when it comes to studying and a huge aspect of quality is your mindset. This exam is super stressful and it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and feel like we aren't doing enough to study so we stress and try to do more and when feel worse because we are overwhelmed and then we end up not even being able to absorb the materials we are "studying" in that moment. When it comes to this point the best thing to do is to take a break (even an hour) off from the material and center yourself.


The stress of this exam can have negative effects both on your mental health and physically. When I was studying for the Certified Nutrition Support Clinical/CNSC exam last fall I experienced this. About a week and a half before the exam I started to not be able to sleep, lost my appetite and developed the worst heart burn I have ever had. I have always been a really good exam taker and had never had testing anxiety before any of my finals or RD exam so I figured that these symptoms must have been from COVID or some other illness so I went to my PCP and made her run every test and do an exam (I know healthcare workers are the worst patients)! Everything was coming back negative and my PCP asked if anything had recently changed in my life or if I had any big events coming up. I of course told her about exam, but just like I wrote above, assured her that I was not stressed or anxiety because I have never had those problems with exams and thus there was zero chance that stress/anxiety could be causing my symptoms. She told me it was fine that I felt that way, but she wanted me to take a daily 30 minute walk without my phone as a study break and to tell her in a week if I still felt ill. Within a week I was feeling so much better and this advice really was critically because it I continued to study without sleep or nutrition I would not have been focused during my study sessions and would have not been able to retain the information and pass the exam.


I share this story to remind you that dealing with the stress/anxiety of this exam needs to be just as important as getting in your practice questions. This is something I talk about daily with my students because it is so important. If you need extra support in creating a realistic study schedule that isn't going to stress you out while still getting you through the exam just reach out. Also don't be afraid to talk with your healthcare providers, friend and family about the stress! I'm so glad that I was able to get this advice form my PCP.

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