Mental Stress during exams and coping strategies to overcome exam stress.

What is the first thought that comes in the mind of the students? It is exam stress and exam

fear. Society and home environment have put a lot of pressure on the students to achieve

higher marks and good results and that is seen as a gateway to future job opportunities

and career growth in the life of the student.

Students and parents need to remember that high marks are not the only criteria for success

in life and if one stream of studies does not work out for the student, there are always other

options available which can be explored through career counselling.

These are some of the causes for poor performance by the students:

1) Too much pressure on the students by the parents threatening or forcing the student to

study without giving any break or free time for other activities that will refresh the mind of the student.

2) Family environment is not conducive to learning, especially for students living in

dysfunctional families or parents having regular arguments or alcoholic parents.

3) Students being influenced by friends who do not take studies seriously or influenced by

friends having bad habits or addictions.

4) Students suffering from emotional and mental health issues which directly impact the

concentration and grasping ability of the student.

Coping strategies to help students overcome exam stress and fear:

1) Always study beforehand and keep only revision in the last few days so that the students

are mentally prepared well with subject knowledge.

2) Make a time- table and follow it religiously to complete the syllabus in advance and to get

enough time for up to two revisions.

3) During studies, practice writing and learning since it helps the brain grasp more

knowledge and retain it for a period of time. Some students may find reading aloud and

learning to be more beneficial as each student may have a different style of learning. This

technique may take time for the student to study the subjects but the consequences will be

more beneficial since the effort made is increased.

4) In case a student has the habit of overthinking and wasting precious time before exams in

worrying, the student can remind himself/herself to bring the mind back to studies, focus on

the present instead of worrying about results since the effort made now will give good results later.

5) Students can practice to schedule chapters on a daily basis and stick to completing only

those chapters for that day. This method helps students to follow the syllabus one day at a

time and reduces stress and makes it easier to complete the syllabus without making the

entire syllabus seem like a burden.

6) Students need to take breaks between studying after every two or three hours depending

on their comfort level and concentration ability. Break time can be used to stretch the body,

simple exercise, a short walk on the terrace or a breath of fresh air from the balcony. All

these help to refresh the body and in turn the mind is fresh to continue studies.

7)Adequate sleep of minimum seven to eight hours is required so that the student can retain

the learning in the brain and good sleep keeps the student alert and functioning well in

answering the exam questions smoothly compared to a student who has not slept well and

feeling drowsy during the exam.

8) Students need to have nutritious meals during exams which help to keep the energy

levels constant and students need to avoid skipping meals as that will hamper the

productivity of the students as well as the concentration.

9) Social media usage can be avoided as much as possible since it leads to wastage of time

and there is a tendency to constantly message batch mates and ask how much they have

studied and then compare the syllabus completed. This leads to additional exam stress and

feeling less confident in facing the exam.

10) Self - discipline is the most important quality for a student to possess in order to focus

and get good results since the best person to control the student is himself/herself.

11) Remember that the exam phase is a temporary phase and whatever leisure they are

required to give up, it is only for the time being and after the exams are over they can get

back to the leisure activities, patience is the key to success.

If the parents and immediate family members are emotionally supportive and make it clear

that they stand by the student no matter what the results are, this helps a lot in reducing the

exam stress of students and motivates the students to do their best.

(This article was previously published by the Newstrail Newspaper at Bengaluru).

Author bio:

Sarah Ahmed is a Psychological Counselor and Therapist based in Bengaluru. She has 10

years of experience working in the field of Emotional and Mental Wellbeing. She is also the

author of the book “Therapeutic Baking for Emotional Wellness” published on Amazon. She

was also a panelist member for an addiction conference held in Bengaluru in 2022.She has

also been awarded with the SAMS service award for the humanitarian contribution to the

community at a women’s day event organized by the SAMS trust Ngo in 2019.