7 Tips to Handle Exam Stress
How am I going to complete this syllabus before the exam?
What if I couldn’t crack the exam?
These are some of the few questions which can bother students all the time, especially when they are preparing for competitive exams. Sometimes the exam pressure can help to focus on your goals but other times it can cause stress, anxiety.
Table of Contents
What is Exam Stress?
Exams are challenging for students because it is a challenge that needs to be completed for a better career. Sometimes while preparing for these exams’ students become overwhelmed and this can become a cause of stress. So, what does exam stress looks like –
- Self-doubt about exam performance
- Not feeling to be social and talking to people
- Lack of motivation
- Feeling confused most of the time
- Having trouble making decisions
- Sleeping trouble
- Feeling sick
Why does Students Experience Exam Stress?
There are many things that can cause students to experience exam stress. Here are few points to understand –
- Worries of failure
- Want to do better but
- Try to compete with others
- Don’t understand the syllabus they study
- Start studying and preparation late
- Parental pressure to pass anyhow
- Having other issues in their life
How to Manage the Stress?
There are many consequences of having exam stress and not only students, but their parents also suffer with them. So, it is very important to take care of mental health at such a crucial time. Here are some tips which can help you to handle exam stress –
Be Organized With Study
Exams happen every year and lakhs of aspirants prepare for them. some plan quite early and some don’t make plans till it’s very late. don’t be the late planner guy. let’s say your JEE Advanced exam is 6 months away or gonna happen next year, plan accordingly. create a 6-month challenge for the exam.
Figure out the basics like what is the exam syllabus? How are the marks allocated? how much you have to learn according to the syllabus. You can’t expect to learn everything from the syllabus but knowing where you get the marks, will help you prioritize.
Give yourself plenty of time to relax and rejuvenate in your plan. like professionals get weekends off because they can’t work all week, you will also need to have time off like that from preparation.
Have Realistic Goals
Having a goal in life and study is important and setting goals early in life helps you with early wins and helps develop belief in yourself.
Sometimes students set very hard goals for themselves, while it’s not the wrong thing to do. Just setting goals isn’t important, you need to work hard, be passionate about it, and be disciplined about your goals. That’s why It is important to set goals that are realistic, no matter how much time you have helps you to put everything into perspective.
Having a goal that you believe you can achieve motivates you to work harder. Write your goals down and read them every day to understand why you need to work hard.
Find A Way to get over Panic Moments
Everyone panics, and it’s common with students who prepare for competitive exams like JEE Main, JEE Advanced, NEET, and BITSAT, etc. You just need to find a way to get over them and there are several techniques that can help you to handle panic moments.
If you get panicked at any point, just take some deep breaths, drink some water, maybe meditate or walk in your some for some time, and then get back to the problem you were facing. Break down that problem into several chunks.
Always remember that there is always a solution for every problem, even if you can’t see them in the first place.
Struggling with Study, Ask for Help
Asking for help isn’t embarrassing. Many students feel shame in asking for help from someone but in some cases, it can help save a life. Connecting with friends or your tutor while struggling to solve a problem is okay. Also if you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed about anything, share it with friends, family members, or your teachers. Don’t hide it because after some time it will eat you from the inside and hamper your exam performance. Don’t be afraid to take professional help.
Don’t do It Alone
According to a research paper published in Linguistics and Education in 2004, studying with peers contributes to enhanced learning. When you study together with friends, studying becomes easy because you can easily share and solve your problems with their help.
Don’t Put Pressure on (For Parents)
Sometimes parents set unrealistic expectations for their children based on their past academic performance without knowing what their children exactly want. This expectation adds extra pressure on the children which sometimes leads to stress, anxiety, and bad performance.
When your child is preparing for any exams, just provide them with the kind of encouragement they need because, during that phase, encouragement that came from their parents means a lot to them. Parents should talk about and take care of their mental health.
Also Read: Helping Your Child To Stay Motivated
Believe in Yourself
This is unarguably the most important thing to keep in mind while preparing for exams. Sometimes when people constantly face new challenges, they often forget to look back to see how much they have accomplished and how far they have come in their journey. If your preparation is good, then you don’t need to worry. If there are lots of topics still left to cover, don’t be stressed, believe in yourself that you can do it, create a new plan and stick to it. There is nothing which you can’t achieve if you focus on your goals ahead and believe that you can achieve that goal.
Conclusion
Always remember that failing in something isn’t the end of the journey, so don’t be hard on yourself. Just enjoy your study and learn. Challenge yourself to achieve those goals you have set and you will find that improvement in your performance. So just calm yourself down and prepare for exams. All the best.
Originally published at https://blog.mypat.in on September 22, 2021.
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