Joe Baronio, BTN Reporter: The year is 2015, and this is me. I'm 17 years old and in my final weeks of year 12. The idea of being free from school was exciting. But the reality came with waves of stress, anxiety, and a little bit of existential dread, and I don't think I was alone. See, around this point every year is exam time.
Student: Yeah, I'm feeling stressed. I'm jam-packed with a lot of other assignments and exams are just one more thing on top of that.
Student: It’s just a lot of pressure, just the thought of exams, really. All the stuff I got to do is a bit overwhelming.
ReachOut, which is a mental health support service for young people, recently conducted study involving more than a thousand young people aged 16 to 25, looking into the effects of exam stress.
Jackie Hallan, Director of Service at ReachOut Australia: And what we found is that 88 percent of young people reported feeling stressed about exams. You know, that's not unexpected, I suppose because it is something that you've been working towards through your school career and something that a lot of young people take quite seriously.
Student: The nerves kicked in the night before and that's when I started, started actually stressing.
Student: I think I actually wasn't stressed up until I rocked up to school probably about an hour before the exam, which is weird.
Student: Oh, there's a lot of pressure from everyone to do well on the exams, and because if I don't, the future might be ruined.
Student: I thought I should be more stressed than I was. I don't know. I think I was pretty tired at school at that point. So, just kind of wanted to finish it really.
The ReachOut research also exposed some exam stress side effects, mainly that more than 50 percent of those surveyed said that the stress was affecting their sleep.
Jackie: I'm sure most of us have had a bad night's sleep and it can really um, affect your ability to concentrate and sort of to recall information in the moment. I think, you know, there's that temptation to cram the night before an exam and the other things that it can affect is your mood, and then that can flow on and affect the relationships with, you know, your family or your, your friends and teachers as well.
Student: Yeah, I'm sleeping a bit less, a bit more worried.
Student: I think only found it affected my sleep really the night before.
Student: I was still getting enough sleep, but I wasn't able to do as efficient study as I wanted to.
Student: It affects my sleep, it's harder to do the initial work, which just builds up more stress.
During exam time it's important to look after yourself, and also your friends. Things like staying active, maintaining a healthy diet avoiding too much caffeine, and taking regular breaks every 20 minutes or so can help relieve the pressure. Experts like Jackie say we all need a level of stress to be productive, but we also need to recognise when it gets too much.
Student: I get weird dreams when I'm stressed, mostly about school. Um, that's when I know I'm really stressed.
Student: I deal with stress through exercise. That's probably the way.
Student: My main go-to is coffee, which is not a good advice at all. But otherwise, I have a part-time job so I like working. And it helps me obviously take a break from studies.
Student: I think playing social sport helps because then you're forced to not to think about the stress at all.
Jackie: If it tips over, and you're feeling really overwhelmed, really anxious, really cranky, I think they're the signs that you might need to look at something, you know, and, and take some different steps and get some more support.
But the story doesn't end there because the stress and anxiety doesn't always stop when it's time for pens down.
Jackie: Some people might feel that sort of sense of relief. Some people might feel really stressed about, you know, their results.
Student: I'm so relieved that I mean, exams are done, year 12 is done, schools done. But I will think about it the night before they're released.
Student: Think I'm not quite sure because obviously school’s, it’s an easy part of life, it’s probably one of the more fun, most fun parts of life you’ll ever have because after that's work, and that’s, can be interesting.
When my results came in, I was quite disappointed. And that mixed with all the other emotions of leaving the comfort of a regular school schedule, balancing friendships and relationships, and uncertainty for the future made 17-year-old me feel lost.
Jackie: It's normal to feel disappointed by that if you've put in a lot of effort or if you feel like you could have put in more effort. I certainly remember going from feeling like a, what is it, a big fish in a small pond at high school to, you know, being quite lost at university. With ReachOut, we have a service called Peer Chat, where you can connect one-on-one with a trained peer worker in an online private chat. But it could be firstly chatting to, you know, somebody you trust. So, a parent or carer or an older sibling, a friend.
Student: It's not all about worrying about exams, like yes you want to do well, but if you stress too much, you won't do that well in the end.
Student: Lots of courses. If you don't have the prerequisites, you can just do bridging courses, still get into what you want.
Student: Just go into it with an open mind. Obviously, it'll be very different from school. But it's nothing you can't do.