“Pray the rosary to our Blessed Mother Mary to help calm your nerves and focus so that the Holy Spirit can recall to your mind the connections you need to make with the work at hand,” she said. “Pray from your heart and tell God how you feel.”

She also suggests that students be good stewards of their bodies and minds by eating healthy foods, getting rest and taking breaks while studying. Students at Loyola Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga participate in faith-based activities to help remain calm and focused during the exam period.

Marcin Zabinski, a Grade 12 student, likes to listen to sacred music, such as Gregorian chants, to relax for exams. Dina Jugurnauth, a Grade 11 student, finds that quiet meditation helps her when she feels stressed. Andrew Perrella, Alexandra Markes, and Priscilla Lee, all in Grade 12, turn to prayer before and after their exams.

As Lee puts it, “It’s a feeling that someone is with you.”

Her faith allows Markes to say, “Yes, I can get through this [exam]. But you can’t just rely on Him. You have to put the work in.”

Rachel Nazareth, youth minister at Toronto’s St. Bonaventure Church, started a tradition of organizing a prayer service for high school students to deal with exam stress. Students participate in guided meditation and they visualize talking to Jesus about different exams that they are worried about. Many students have told Nazareth they find the prayer service beneficial, allowing them to “hand things over to God and take time out.”

But students can also set up more informal services on their own. Forming focused study groups with fellow students can also be helpful. 

“Sometimes you can just laugh and pray together to blow off some steam when the pressure gets to be too much,” said Lobo-Pryce.

Lobo-Pryce also said that students can get support from fellow members of the body of Christ, such as teachers, parents, friends or a school chaplain.

Linda Izzo, chaplain at Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School in Toronto, often meets with students who are dealing with stress. She likes to tell them about the story of Jesus falling to his knees in prayer in the garden before he was going to be taken away to be crucified. 

“But the story doesn’t end there,” Izzo said. “Jesus was afraid, but he didn’t let that stop him from completing his mission. Our mission when it comes to exams is to do our very best.”

Izzo said many stressed students are calmed by participating in prayer or techniques of focusing and repeating a phrase, such as “My God be with me.” However, she emphasizes that sufficient and appropriate preparation go hand-in-hand with these faith-based techniques. 

And she reminds students, “You’re not walking into that exam alone. You’re walking with Christ.”

(Gagliano, 20, is a life sciences student at the University of Toronto.)