uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce exams in American English
uhg·ZAMZ
Start here
Americans pronounce exams as uhg-ZAMZ (/əgˈzæmz/). In "exams", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. This is called the Cat-Vowel Before M/N, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as uhg·ZAMZ. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "We're preparing for our final exams" or "He reviewed past exams to prepare for the upcoming final" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "exams".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
a/æ/
NasalizedThe tongue relaxes down in the back and the corners of the lips relax before the consonant. This adds a schwa-like 'uh' relaxation after the /æ/. Think of it as 'relaxing out of the vowel' — it is no longer a pure /æ/ sound.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "exams" in the wild.
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Pronouncing the vowel before M/N too pure.
In "exams", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. The "/æ/" vowel raises and fronts before M or N — tongue pulls up and forward, producing a tense [eə] glide (between /e/ and /ə/). Not a pure /æ/.
uhg-ZAMZ→uhg·ZAMZ
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch ZAMZ — keep everything else short and quick.
UHG·zamz→uhg·ZAMZ
03
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
UHG·ZAMZ→uhg·ZAMZ
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "exams" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "ZAMZ" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uhg-ZAMZ" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "exams" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "uhg-ZAMZ" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "exams" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "uhg-ZAMZ" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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