How to Stay Calm and Focused During IGCSE Exams
As the May/June 2025 IGCSE exams approach, managing your mindset becomes just as important as revising content.
Many students prepare well academically — but lose critical marks simply because of exam stress, panic under pressure, or poor focus on the day.
The good news is: staying calm and focused is a skill you can practice.
Here’s how to build a winning exam mindset and perform at your best during IGCSE exams.
1. Control the Controllables
On exam day, there are many things you cannot control — question difficulty, invigilator timing, room temperature.
But there are many critical things you can control:
- Your sleep and rest in the days before
- Your time management during the paper
- Your breathing and mental resets when stress builds
- Your nutrition and hydration
Focus on controlling what you can — and letting go of everything else.
This mindset reduces anxiety immediately.
2. Build a Pre-Exam Routine
Elite athletes use pre-game routines to control nerves — and top students can do the same.
Simple pre-exam routines might include:
- Reviewing 2–3 critical formulas or key facts lightly
- Doing a 2-minute deep breathing exercise
- Visualizing calmly setting up your first answers
Having a repeatable routine trains your mind to associate exams with calm focus, not fear.
Consistency reduces last-minute adrenaline spikes.
3. Manage Time Aggressively
Panic often builds when students realize they are running out of time — and lose marks even on questions they could answer.
Avoid time pressure by:
- Sticking to strict time-per-mark rules (e.g., 1 minute per mark)
- Moving on if stuck after a set limit (no more than 2 minutes frozen on one part)
- Reserving 5–10 minutes at the end for quick checking
Train this timing in your practice papers — so it becomes automatic on real exam days.
4. Use Breathing to Break Panic Cycles
When anxiety hits mid-exam:
- Put your pen down for 5–10 seconds.
- Breathe in slowly for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breathe out slowly for 6 seconds.
- Reset your mind: focus only on the current question, not the whole paper.
A simple breathing reset can prevent full-blown panic — and restore clarity.
Train this technique during practice sessions to make it natural.
5. Prepare Smarter, Not Harder
Confidence reduces stress.
Confidence comes not just from working harder — but from working smarter:
- Practicing predictive papers matching the real exam style
- Training under timed conditions
- Mastering exam setups and common question types
Predict Exam’s IGCSE Predictive Papers are designed using real syllabus trends and past assessment patterns — helping you prepare smarter and walk into exams with real confidence.
Conclusion: Calm Minds Win Exams
To stay calm and focused during IGCSE exams:
- Control your controllables
- Build a calming pre-exam routine
- Manage your time aggressively
- Use breathing techniques to reset during stress
- Prepare smartly with predictive, exam-style practice
Exam success isn’t just academic — it’s mental.
Explore Predict Exam’s IGCSE Predictive Papers for May/June 2025 and prepare with confidence today.