Smart Skills
Managing exam stress
Usha Albuquerque

Are you worried about the board exams coming up shortly? Are you feeling overwhelmed or anxious as the days draw near? Are parents anxious about their child’s ability to cope with the exams?

Examination stress is natural, and no one can honestly say he/she has not experienced it.

Heightened emotions during examination time are to be expected when a person is under pressure. Some people enjoy the pressure and perform better than usual. However, many people feel overwhelmed when the level of stress becomes so great that they cannot concentrate and they risk being overcome by feelings of depression or anxiety. These feelings tend to increase the closer it gets to exam time. Often parents are as stressed as the children, transferring their feelings of anxiety to their children.

There are several reasons why students are under stress. In today’s fast paced competitive world, students have to ensure that they consistently procure good marks, so as to be able to make it not only into the next class, but more so, to qualify for admissions to college. With increasing numbers competing for limited seats in the better known and recognised institutions, those who are unable to cope, or slacken in their studies in any way, feel the pressure of competition. This is particularly so near exam time, when the course has to be completed in class, tutorial work continues alongside and there is the anxiety of exams looming ahead. Students who may not have covered all the portions to be revised sometimes feel the pressure as this time gets compressed.

Each child responds to stress in an entirely different way. What is stressful for one child may or may not be stressful for another. No universally effective stress-reduction techniques exist. We are all different and react to different things differently. So, it is important to recognise the causes for the stress and deal with them accordingly. Some students are stressed because parental expectations are far higher than the child can achieve.

Some students panic because their exam preparation has been poor and faulty. Some students are able to camouflage symptoms of stress. This does not mean they don’t have any. Denial of symptoms can also be stressful. Some ‘minor’ symptoms, such as continuous headaches or stomach cramps, may be early warnings of the inability to cope with stress.

Evolve coping mechanism

Exam stress, when tackled properly need not be the end all of mental peace. Getting ‘psyched up’ about the exam can actually help the student stay alert, attentive, and focused. Of course, too much worry, may lead to final exam panic — distress.

There are certain tips that are worth keeping in mind, in order to cope with stress:

Maintain a positive attitude towards exams. You must understand that exams are opportunities to demonstrate a well-prepared understanding of the material you have learnt in school.

Being prepared is the best axiom against all anxieties. Preparations for examinations should begin early. Maintain a study schedule and stick to it. Set a realistic number of hours for revision each week. Work through each of the topics in the period up to the exam, leaving a few weeks for final revision. Regularly review the plan and make changes in light of your progress. Get hold of a book of sample questions a year in advance, and work on every question. If you have any queries, check with your teacher for clarifications. Continuous revision and re-working of sample papers is one way of keeping pace with the work being done in school.

It is also important that one’s expectations should be realistic. Not everyone can make it to the top institutions or courses.

Yet at the same time it is good to be aware that there are hundreds of other alternatives, opportunities and courses for students who are unable to meet the cut-off requirements.

Keep aspirations realistic

Moreover, parents and teachers must understand this and be as supportive as possible. The immediate hours or day before an exam should be kept purely for last-minute revision. This is when you can work over the sections which have proved difficult during the earlier revision. It is not the time for study of new material, as your anxiety will work against retaining anything new. It is therefore important to complete all the revision well in advance.

Sleep over your worries

Also, make sure that you do not lose out on your sleep. You must make it a point to get at least seven hours of sleep every night. Most students like to work at night and sleep during the day. This alters your body clock which then adjusts to this reversed work and sleep pattern. But this is the best way to hamper your alertness and effectiveness during exams that are held during the day. So, make sure that at least one month before your exam, you return to your normal body clock hours, studying in the morning and sleeping at night. This will enable you to be at peak performance when needed – during exam hours. Make sure you also get sufficient relaxation – take a break every couple of hours. Taking a walk, running or playing a sport will help you return to studies more refreshed.

Ensure that you stay healthy. You cannot afford to fall sick during exam time. All the year’s hard work will be wiped out if you are not in good health. So, get enough sleep, eat sensibly and at regular hours. Eating out at wayside dhabas exposes you to infections of all kinds.

Parents and teachers can play a very vital support role in helping students cope with stress. Parents should help to create an environment suitable for study. A separate part of the house where the students can have peace and quiet is essential. Many parents restrict their own TV watching, inviting guests, and other similar forms of entertainment, during this period, which can be a distraction to students studying in the house.

Parental support must

If fear of the exams is making your child ill, worried, or depressed, you need to talk to your child about it and encourage him/her to rationalise the problem and come to terms with the anxiety. Parents can help students concentrate on preparation rather than worrying about the marks. If the anxiety is more acute, however, professional help should be sought.

Most important however, is for parents not to transfer their anxieties onto their children, nor to burden them with unrealistic expectations. Teachers, on the other hand, are the best guides for help before examinations and must make themselves available to their students. They are experienced and have seen so many other students through this difficult period and know the problems they have to encounter.

Relaxation the best policy

Most importantly, you, the student, must learn to relax. If you are an anxious kind of person, take long deep breaths every time you feel nervous. This will calm you down. Make sure you arrive for the exam well in time, and that you have all the required material with you, ready and available, if possible, the night before. And during the exam, time yourself and make sure you read the questions and understand each one clearly before attempting the answer. Finally, if there are certain questions you feel you cannot answer, move onto the next and answer well those you know.

Relax – exams are just the pebbles on your road to success. Manoeuvre them effectively and you will be racing ahead to victory!

The writer is a noted career expert