Prepare for your exam with Susan

Exam: how to prepare in 90 seconds

Exam anxiety can make you forget things you know well. Many students know the feeling of a blank mind in the first minutes. A short routine before an exam helps you start calm and think clearly.

What happens in your body and mind

Strong stress before an exam narrows attention and makes it harder to recall what you learned. Slow breathing brings the body back into balance, and picturing the exam room and the first questions makes the real situation less threatening.

Your 90-second routine with Susan

1. Arrive, 30 seconds. Breathe with Susan: Inhale 4s · hold 4s · exhale 4s · hold 2s. The first half of the video plays while you breathe in, the second half while you breathe out. The FLOW line shows you when to breathe, and the music follows your breath.

2. Visualize, 45 seconds. Five short scenes walk you through your exam:

1. Picture the place where your exam happens. Notice the light, the temperature, the sounds.
2. See yourself arrive a few minutes early. Shoulders low. Breath slow and quiet.
3. The first moment: you make eye contact and your first sentence comes out calm and clear.
4. A hard question comes. You pause, exhale, and answer in your own words.
5. See the end: you leave knowing you showed who you really are.

3. Anchor, 15 seconds. Press thumb and index finger together. Say quietly: “Ready.” Use the same gesture later, in the real moment, with one long exhale.

▶ Start the routine now, free

When to use it

• The evening before, to sleep better.
• In the morning of the exam.
• Right before you enter the exam room or start an online test.

Tips for your exam

• Picture yourself reading the first question, breathing out and starting with what you know.
• If your mind goes blank, use your anchor and move to the next question.
• Do not study new material in the last hour. Use the time to calm down.

Your coach: Susan from Paris

Specialized in fencing footwork, barre, curvy well-being, body positivity, and weight loss. Susan breathes with you at the pace of this routine. More about Susan

Prefer another coach for your exam?

Why it works

Mental rehearsal, picturing a situation step by step before it happens, uses many of the same brain networks as the real action. Athletes, musicians and surgeons use it to prepare. Slow breathing with a longer exhale shifts the body towards its calming, parasympathetic side. AHΞHA puts both into one short routine you can repeat whenever you need it. Read the research.

Frequently asked questions

Related situations

AHΞHA is a breathing and mental-preparation tool. It does not diagnose or treat any condition. If anxiety, sleep or eating problems affect your daily life, please talk to a professional.