Removing the stress from exam success

You're lining up to enter the exam hall, eyes droopy after a late night of last-minute cramming. Your palms are sweaty as you mentally run through dates and figures, and pray that the paper awaiting you contains the questions you've prepared for.

For millions of students around the world exams are a nerve-racking experience akin to torture, regardless of the number of hours they have devoted to studying.

In Hong Kong, where good grades can mean getting into the school of your choice or getting a shot at gaining a university place, the pressure on children can be immense.

Having witnessed this pressure and overcome her own childhood exam stress, Verity Aylward, the head of history at Sha Tin College, set out to smash the myth that spending hours reading notes is the key to achieving good grades. Instead, she argues in her book, Mind Explosion: Max Out Your Brain For Exam Success, achieving good grades is as much about having a positive mindset and a balanced life as knowing your material.

Published last month, the book is based on her 10 years' teaching experience, which includes stints at an Orthodox Jewish school in London and an Arabic Indian school in Abu Dhabi. It stresses the importance of having a positive mindset and understanding how the brain works.

'If students don't have a mindset for success, they don't have concentration, focus and imagination,' Ms Aylward said. 'There's a lot of myths out there about how they should revise .... that I thought they really needed to challenge.'