Managing Exam Anxiety: A Guide for Ghanaian Students and Parents

Exam anxiety is real, and it affects thousands of Ghanaian students every year. Whether your child is preparing for BECE or WASSCE, understanding and managing exam stress is essential for them to perform at their best.

Why Ghanaian Students Experience Exam Anxiety

The pressure around BECE and WASSCE in Ghana is intense. These exams determine school placement, university admission, and in many families' eyes, future career prospects. Students feel this weight from parents, teachers, extended family, and their own aspirations.

In communities across Ghana, from families in East Legon and Spintex in Accra to homes in Tamale and Bolgatanga, the expectations are similar. Children understand that their exam results carry consequences, and that awareness can become debilitating anxiety if not managed properly.

Recognising the Signs

Exam anxiety can show up as difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, irritability, difficulty concentrating, or physical symptoms like headaches and stomach aches. Some students become withdrawn. Others become unusually restless. If you notice these patterns intensifying as exams approach, your child may be dealing with exam anxiety.

Practical Strategies for Students

Prepare with a plan

Anxiety often comes from feeling unprepared or overwhelmed by the volume of material. A clear study timetable breaks the revision into manageable pieces. When you can see that you have allocated time for every subject and topic, the mountain feels less steep.

Focus on what you can control

You cannot control the exam questions. But you can control how well you prepare for the topics you know are on the syllabus. Redirect your energy from worrying about the unknown to mastering the known. Tools like Olearna help by showing you exactly which topics to prioritise, removing the guesswork that fuels anxiety.

Practice under exam conditions

Familiarity reduces fear. Practice answering questions under timed conditions so that the exam environment feels less foreign. The more times you sit down and work through questions with a timer running, the more comfortable you will be when the real exam arrives.

What Parents Can Do

Your words matter more than you think. Avoid phrases like "you must pass" or "what will people say if you fail." Instead, focus on encouragement: "I am proud of your effort" and "let us see where you need help and fix it together."

Also, ensure your child is sleeping enough, eating well, and taking breaks from studying. A student who is physically run down will perform worse than one who is rested and well-nourished, regardless of how many hours they studied.

For more on how to support your child, see our parent guide to BECE success and our detailed guide on exam anxiety in Ghana.