Colman Noctor: Using a sports psychology game plan to manage exam stress

Irish Examiner

2 days ago

In the heat of exam season, students will grapple with anxiety, self-doubt, and the pressure to perform. The stress can closely mirror the psychological battles faced by athletes competing at the highest levels.
While sports psychology is used to enhance athletic performance, it also offers a rich toolkit of mental strategies that can boost academic performance and help students cope with intense pressure. From goal setting to visualisation, from self-talk to arousal regulation, the principles that help elite athletes perform under pressure can also be effective for students preparing for state exams.
The connection between sports and academic exam performance might seem tenuous. One involves physical prowess, the other intellectual rigour. However, the psychological demands are strikingly similar. Athletes and students must prepare over extended periods, perform under pressure, manage expectations, recover from setbacks, and maintain focus over time.
One of the core principles in sports psychology, a discipline founded by American Coleman Griffith in the 1920s, is effective goal setting. Athletes often break down long-term aspirations, such as qualifying for the Olympics, in to a series of smaller, manageable goals. Similarly, students can benefit from setting SMART goals: Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Rather than vaguely aim to 'do well in my exams', a student might set specific targets, like completing a past exam paper in a day or mastering a topic within three days. This approach can create direction and help sustain motivation, especially when the exam date is looming and they are feeling overwhelmed.
Also, ticking off these mini goals from your to-do list can boost their sense of accomplishment, a key predictor of performance under pressure.
Elite athletes use visualisation, or imagery, to mentally rehearse their performance before stepping on to the field. According to Canadian performance psychologist Terry Orlick, if an athlete can visualise themselves successfully executing a particular skill, that activates similar neural pathways to the ones used during the actual performance.
For example, when golfer Rory McIlroy is standing over a crucial putt, he would have been encouraged by his sports psychologist, Bob Rotella, to visualise the previous putts he had successfully executed, rather than flood his mind with the ones that he had missed.
For students, visualisation can be adapted in multiple ways. One technique could involve imagining sitting calmly during the exam, confidently answering questions, and managing time effectively. Another involves mentally rehearsing the steps needed to solve a complex problem. Visualisation is believed to not only reduce anxiety, but also improve recall and problem-solving speed.
One of the central concepts in sports psychology is the relationship between arousal (a physiological and psychological state of alertness) and performance.
The inverted-U hypothesis, first proposed by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson in 1908, suggests that performance increases with arousal to an optimal point, after which further arousal can be detrimental. For athletes, this means finding the right level of intensity. If they are too relaxed, they risk underperforming, and if they are too tense, they could freeze or make errors. The same applies to exams. Mild anxiety can sharpen focus, but excessive stress can cloud thinking and impair memory and concentration.
Students can learn to regulate their arousal levels through techniques like controlled breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and mindfulness meditation. These help to bring the body back to a state where performance is optimised.
Positive affirmation
Athletes often rely on self-talk to boost confidence and focus during competitions. Phrases like, 'I've trained for this' or 'I can handle this moment' can help them manage pressure and redirect negative thoughts.
The same approach can apply to students who experience self-doubt. They, too, can use affirmations and constructive self-talk to build resilience. This technique can be used to counter negative inner dialogue, such as, 'I'm going to fail', which is common before exams. Replacing these thoughts with statements like, 'I'm prepared and capable' or 'I've done the work' can create a more self-supportive mental environment. This practice is not about naive optimism, but about reminding oneself of genuine preparation and real strengths.
Elite athletes often use pre-performance routines to help focus and block out distractions. Like tennis players who bounce the ball before serving or a rugby kicker methodically stepping back to approach the ball, they're not just following superstition; they're engaging in a ritual that helps ground their attention and engage their muscle memory.
Students can apply similar routines before study sessions and exams to enhance their performance. Perhaps a few minutes of deep breathing and organising of materials can help shift the brain in to 'performance mode'. Similarly, a pre-exam routine that incorporates controlled breathing can help maintain calmness and clarity.
Another overlap between sports psychology and exam preparation is the ability to plan a response to inevitable adversity.
There will be failures and setbacks in sports and exams. What distinguishes successful performers is not the absence of failure, but the response to it.
Sports psychology interventions can make a crucial difference to performance, according to a recent review of the sports psychology literature by Italian scientist Dr Selenia di Fronso, from the Department of Medicine at the University of Chieti, Italy.
One such intervention is promoting a growth mindset, where challenges and mistakes are viewed as opportunities for learning rather than threats to self-worth.
Reflecting on mistakes without ruminating and then adjusting your strategy to maintain effort are core aspects of athletic training and exam preparation.
Adopting the mindset of an athlete does not mean treating exams as a battlefield or pushing oneself to the point of exhaustion. Instead, it involves intentional preparation, mental discipline, and practices like breathing and visualisation to manage high levels of arousal and gain clarity in stressful situations.
Encouraging students to incorporate sports psychology techniques in to their academic routines is not just about memorising facts; it is about training their minds to handle pressure, stay focused, and perform at their best when it counts most.
A day of rest
Another metaphor from the sporting world is the importance of taking breaks. In any fitness regimen, rest days are crucial for progress. The brain is like a muscle: It needs to relax to refill. And, much like a muscle in your body that is being trained, it needs time to repair and grow back stronger.
Many stressed students fail to see the value in rest periods and so will try to power through, even though they are unable to retain new information.
Reminding them of the risks of over-training a muscle can help them to see the necessity of rest periods and ease the guilt sometimes associated with taking breaks so close to the exam period.
Marathoners do not run five marathons the week before the race — they conserve their energy by doing shorter runs in the lead-up to the big day.
In an era of rising academic stress and competition, the need for effective coping and performance strategies has never been greater.
The field of sports psychology, which was once confined to the locker room, can also serve a purpose in the exam hall.
By harnessing these principles, students are not only preparing for exams, they are also developing life skills that will serve them far beyond the first three weeks in June.
If your child comes to you in a panic about the state exams, there may not be time to cover the whole curriculum. Still, there is scope to help them manage these acute, panicky feelings and remind them of the skill set used by elite athletes to keep the mind calm when the central nervous system is spiralling in to overdrive.
I've used sports psychology tips with exam students in recent years, and many have reported that they found them helpful. Hopefully, your child will report the same once they reach the finish line.
Dr Colman Noctor is a child psychotherapist