When I told my friends I was writing an article on how to deal with exam stress, they laughed. When I told my parents, they laughed harder. The truth is that I am what you would class as a full blown 'stresser'.

I believe there are three types of people in this world. Firstly, those who stress (like myself) and who overthink every little situation, every question and every detail about the process of the upcoming examinations. Our exam stress becomes ritual, routine and restrictive – from what to write, to where to go, to even choosing pens. Then there are those who don't stress but panic: the week before they seem reasonably chilled, too chilled because on the day they become red-hot with anxiety. The third type is those unlucky enough to suffer from both. I suppose some of you reading this are thinking to yourself that you don't suffer from either – lucky you!

The truth is that I don't hate exams. In fact, I find the entire process rewarding: the process of creating hundreds of flash cards, revision posters, mind maps; learning and reciting facts, and the satisfaction from completing a past paper. Perhaps this sounds too good to be true – where is the stress, panic or anxiety? The major problem I find with exams is that while the process of revision may indeed be satisfying, the mental build-up to exams is terrifying. I hate that feeling of dread when you receive your exam timetable, coupled with the counting down: 30 days, 20 days, 10, five, one. The suspense is often daunting; the process of counting down feels like a Christmas advent calendar, but without the chocolate reward.

As time ticks away, and exams loom closer, the anxiety builds. With A levels I got through over 20 packs of flash cards (no, I'm not exaggerating: I am why WH Smith are still in business), and last year for prelims (which are mocks for heaven’s sake!) I developed an obsession with revision posters, wallpapering my bedroom with timelines and mind-maps. Yes, so, I am a firm exam 'stresser' type, and by second year, I have learnt that my over-anxious mind is something which I will have to live with – it is a part of me.

However, this year I have chosen to approach my exams differently. For the first time I have begun to see the bigger picture, and, as corny as this sounds, I have realised that exams are just exams. Perhaps this sudden realisation comes with maturity, or the fact that I have sat exams from the young age of 11 and their effect is finally beginning to wear off. More likely, it is because I am at last sitting exams which I want to sit. I, along with the vast student majority at Cambridge, love my subject. I don't find learning about Macmillan’s government or gender in WWI – or even the English reformation – boring or a chore. In fact, I find it an incentive to get up and start revision. Because for the first time in my life I feel happy to be sitting exams on a subject I could sit and read about for hours, or talk about all day long to my supervisor.

I am aware this outlook is overwhelmingly positive, and it’s not true that every day I feel overjoyed to be scribbling about peasants, or revolutions or wars. There are days when the amount of content, facts, figures and opinions becomes so overwhelming that I feel I am struggling to stay afloat in a sea of knowledge. But college welfare schemes in exam term can certainly provide helpful stress relief. The advent of puppies, free food and welfare cake which accompanies the countdown to exams can relieve those moments of intellectual suffocation, and in a very real sense provide a decent break from the stuffy atmosphere of the college library.

These schemes offer small incentives, and are certainly worth participating in. However, on an individual basis, only you can solve or relieve your own stress-troubled thoughts. My advice (coming from a serious exam stresser here) is to take a macro approach to exams this term. They are just exams, and failure isn't the end of the world. But if you adopt a positive attitude and enjoy the little pleasures of exam term, you may actually find the process of revision rewarding.