Essay · 02 / 08 · Edition 01

Exam stress: the academic plot twist nobody asked for

when a little pressure helps, and when it takes over

By Diti Shah · Sep 2026 · 5 min read

The syllabus is 14 chapters long. The exam is tomorrow. You have studied exactly… uhmm… precisely about two chapters. Suddenly, you’re hungry, your water bottle becomes fascinating, your room desperately needs cleaning, and your phone has never looked more interesting. Somehow, everything feels more urgent than actually opening your textbook. Welcome to exam season.

For most students, examinations come with a familiar side dish containing stress, pressure, no sleep, coffee, energy drinks, and the feeling of guilt that goes, “Why did I not study before?” But sometimes, a little pressure can push us to stop procrastinating, organize our time, and actually get things done. However, when that pressure becomes constant, exams stop being about what we know and start becoming about how much stress we can survive under.

When pressure helps

Let’s be honest: without deadlines, some of us would probably study three business days after the exam. The tiny voice reminding us that the exam is in three days can sometimes be exactly what gets us to put our phone down and open our textbook.

A little pressure can be a low-key cheat code for motivation. Knowing that a test is right around the corner can push us to make a study schedule, focus on difficult topics, and stop procrastinating. It can also help us organize our time and actually work towards our goals. Pressure itself is not the problem. It’s when the pressure becomes too much.

When pressure stops being productive

There is a huge difference between saying, “I need to prepare for this test,” and “If I don’t do well, I will fail.” The first thought encourages you to prepare, while the second can make you feel extremely stressed and overwhelmed.

The pressure becomes worse when we start connecting our marks to our sense of worth. Students may worry about disappointing their parents, teachers, or even themselves. They may also start comparing their marks with friends and classmates. Someone else’s 95 suddenly makes your 85 feel like a disaster.

Then comes the classic exam-season experience: long studying hours, no sleep, too much coffee, and staring at the same page while realizing that absolutely nothing is going into your brain. Too much stress can make it harder to concentrate, sleep properly, and think clearly. Ironically, the pressure to perform better can sometimes make performing harder.

The comparison trap

And then there is the question everyone somehow asks after receiving their marks: “How much did you get?” It sounds harmless at first. You get your marks, ask your friends, and suddenly marks become a scoreboard. One person got a 92, someone else got an 87, and then there’s that one person who says, “I didn’t even study,” and somehow gets a 95.

Instead of thinking, “What did I learn?” or “What can I improve?”, we start thinking, “Where do I stand compared to everyone else?” That’s where it becomes unhealthy.

Academic performance is not a personality trait. Getting a 95 doesn’t automatically make you smart, and getting a lower mark definitely doesn’t make you stupid. An exam measures how you performed on one particular paper, on one particular day, under one particular set of circumstances. That’s it. Your strengths may be in art, music, sports, coding, writing, or something that cannot be measured on a report card.

You are so much more than a number written at the top of an answer sheet. Clock itttttt 🤭

So, is exam stress good or bad?

Honestly? It’s both. A little pressure can motivate us. It can push us to focus, stay disciplined, and get things done. But too much pressure can completely overwhelm us. The goal shouldn’t be to eliminate every bit of stress because, let’s be real, that’s probably impossible. Instead, we need to recognize when pressure is motivating us and when it is simply becoming too much.

Pressure isn’t necessarily harmful. It becomes harmful when we start using it in the wrong way. When we use it in the right way, exams can feel more manageable, and we can stop feeling guilty every time we aren’t studying.

Exams are supposed to measure what we’ve learned—not how well we can function while we’re stressed, exhausted, and terrified of a number on a piece of paper. Maybe we need to stop treating stress as proof that we’re working hard enough. Being constantly overwhelmed doesn’t mean you’re more dedicated, and being calm doesn’t mean you’re not trying.

At the end of the day, one exam can measure one chapter of your life. It cannot measure you as a person.