How to Ease Exam Stress in Teenagers This Spring
Hot cross buns, chocolate eggs, lighter evenings… the sap is rising and everything outside is bursting with the energy of spring.
But inside homes and schools across the country, it’s a different story.
For thousands of teenagers, this season isn’t about joy or frolicking outside. It’s revision timetables, structured breaks, cramped hands, and hiding from the sunshine with another chapter of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
It’s open exam hunting season and they are the prey.
Exams looming. Pressure mounting. Natural energy rising… and nowhere for it to go.
This isn’t just pressure.
It’s a complete disconnect between the natural rhythm of the season and the demands placed on young people’s minds and bodies. And while we may not be able to overhaul the education system overnight, we can support teens in managing stress in a way that honours both their biology and emotional wellbeing.
It’s open exam hunting season—and they are the prey.
Exams looming. Pressure mounting. Natural energy rising… and nowhere for it to go.
The Problem With Spring Exams
There’s a novel written in 1940 called The Neglected Spring by Danish author Hans Scherfig.
It’s about exactly this issue: the unnatural expectation that students suppress their seasonal instincts and submit to rigid academic demands. And here we are in 2025, still expecting teens to sit still and perform while everything in their body is saying: move, expand, play.
Modern neuroscience and energy psychology both tell us the same thing: when we ignore the body’s signals, stress builds up, and it has consequences.
What Exam Stress in Teenagers Really Looks Like
You might see it in your teen as:
- Fatigue and burnout after short periods of study
- Anxiety around performance or fear of failure
- Resistance to revising (not laziness—protection mode)
- Mood swings, shutdowns, or perfectionism
- Poor sleep and high emotional sensitivity
These are not personality flaws. These are responses to a system that pushes young people to go against their nature.
How Energy Psychology Can Help
Energy Psychology approaches like EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) are incredibly effective in helping teenagers:
- Calm their nervous system
- Reframe unhelpful beliefs about exams and achievement
- Process stress in real-time
- Reconnect with their own inner resilience
It’s gentle, fast, and surprisingly enjoyable—especially for young people who find traditional mental health tools overwhelming or slow.
And no, it’s not just “woo.” There are now over 200 peer-reviewed studies and 99 randomised controlled trials supporting the effectiveness of energy psychology in treating anxiety, depression, and trauma.
What You Can Do Today
You may not be able to cancel the exams, but you can help your child navigate this season with less fear, more calm, and a bit of joy.
If your teen is struggling, and you’re watching them tear themselves in two trying to meet impossible expectations…
Book a (free) WayForward Consultation
Let’s see if my Exam SOS support is the right fit to help your teen feel more like themselves again, just in time for spring.
Because spring shouldn’t feel like survival, it’s an expansive, joy-filled and playful time.