PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS FUL EXAMS 9
With Std X and Std XII Board exams around the corner, students and parents are going through he exam pressures. There is a rise 
in stress-related cases—insomnia, anger, abusive behavior and violence due to the pressure to do well. It comes from parents, and sometimes, from the students themselves.
Parents have taken leave, and there is a curfew on routine activities like watching TV, outings .
For the parents it is to ensure that their child’s focus is on studies and puts all his effort into doing well. There is an ongoing pressure to perform better and deliver extraordinary outputs.
And, as they say in showbiz, you are as good as your last success. The mantra is to achieve and score well, exceptionally well. People function more like performers rather than human beings.
It is mostly owing to stiff competition. Another reason is that working parents feel guilty for being unable to give their child the required attention.. Due to competition, need to score well to get into a course and college of our choice, information at tip of a button, structured curriculum , going through rigmarole of classes, tuitions ,parental expectations, difficulties on school front, less of play time, communication at home , changing lifestyle things performance anxiety is more common..
A few years ago it was only about getting into the Science or Arts stream. Today, while in Class 10, students are planning and worrying about their admission into engineering and medicine, MBA and other
Children and teenagers face stress on account of:
Emotional problems [ home conditions , parental relations, sibling relations ,school environment, teacher student interaction, peer group, self image and personality ,career choice tension, adolescent difficulties]
68.67%
Study related problems [ Difficulty in grasping, boredom ,tough subjects, attention or concentration problem , faulty study pattern]
44%
Performance anxiety [ difficulty in exams and failing] 58..54%
Exam Tension or Anxiety is very common in almost all students. Sometimes students are not able to know that they are experiencing exam stress.
Sujata, who took counseling to get over her tension expresses, I used to feel completely drained out and go completely blank. Everyone used to say take it easy, you worry a lot. But I was not doing it purposely.
Rajesh used to get stressed out as before in his exam he had scored less and he fears the same will happen again .Before the exams he gets heaviness in head, palpitations and sweating.
The causes of exam anxiety can be different. The fear of failure can be so severe that the best student get affected. If I score well I am Good or else I am Doomed is the attitude .
The student’s expectation from self , ineffective study techniques can also cause this. Compounded with this is the Parental 
expectations, Expectations from the school . This is irrespective of the age or gender.
Nagging or critical behavior from parents also leads to stress. It can damage the self esteem of the child and cause withdrawal or low confidence, anger reactions .Comparison with other students or their siblings is equally damaging to the child.
Realizing that his daughter was suffering because of his over-anxious behavior, Ranganathan an IT professional sought psychiatric help. ‘‘I felt I was choking her. But now I leave her.”
But hold on .
EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING.
It is possible to recognize exam fear or tension and curb it rather than it having a debilitating effect on the person .
Stress is very common word and to some extent is HEALTHY. LIKE AS EXAMS APPROACH OR WHEN WE HAVE TO FACE AN IMPORTANT SITUATION IT MOTIVATES US. Problem comes when the level and intensity goes beyond a limit wherein it starts affecting our performance and daily routine.
Track yourself
Where do you see yourself from the following three stages?
The alarm stage: You readily accept the challenges with interest and enthusiasm. Each day is a new day and you look forward to it. Most of the time on the go and alert.
The resistance stage: You constantly experience the feeling of 'I have to do' instead of 'I want to do'. You could be tired, mentally and physically, lethargic, irritable, prone to outbursts of anger, suffer from acidity and joint pains in the legs.
You may either falling asleep instantly; have difficulty falling asleep; or experience early morning awakening.
The exhaustion stage: You are not able to cope up. There is a breakdown of physical and mental faculties.
Signs of stress
You need to look for signs in all three dimensions -- emotional, physical and behavioral. If you experience any of these, it is time to put the breaks on.
Emotional: You feel anxious, depressed, lethargic, irritable, indecisive and impatient. You harbor a feeling of being doomed. Your communication decreases. Your thinking sometimes is illogical, you may experience memory loss. There could be guilt or feelings of helplessness and failure.
Physical: Stress also takes a physical toll with the onset of conditions like hypertension, weight gain/loss, chronic fatigue syndrome[constant tiredness], sleep problems, less or more eating, frequent headaches, and digestive and skin problems.
Behavioral: You withdraw into a shell. You become restless and oversensitive. You tend to procrastinate. You take to watching T V, spending more time on computers or just doing nothing. You become prone to accidents.
Many of us are in first stage in morning, go to second stage by evening and night. This is completely normal.
But, if you see yourself in the second stage most of the time i. e when you are not fresh in morning say five or six days in a week , or experience any of the three dimensional symptoms recurrently, then the following pointers will be helpful.
- Before sitting down to study take deep breaths and tell yourself that with each breathe you are inhaling concentration and peace and exhaling your tensions and worries. This will create a positive approach and will help to focus.
- Break study method involves that you study for 45 minutes and have a break for 10 minutes .In the break you can do the concentration exercise of visualizing a burning candle in front of you and trying to bring the flame closer and on the centre of your forehead. Focus on the image for one minute and then allow the flame to go away from you and disappear. This helps to relieve the monotony and also to increase the registration and retention of study matter.
- Studying according to bio rhythm i. e studying subjects requiring active attention during that part of day when you are fresh and alert. The ones requiring you to go through can be tackled when you are not so fresh. Try to make a list of your distractions so that they can be avoided.
- Chase negative thoughts away, because they serve no positive purpose. Make a list of thoughts that disturb you in your studies. Some of the thoughts like I can never do it can be changed to 'I will try to do it' or 'Let me try'. Make 4 columns in your book, in the first column write down Study Thoughts that disturb, second column Emotions that arise because of it ,In third column try to change the thought with by using Let me see what I can do or positive thought. Fourth column jot down the corresponding change in emotion. This will be very useful in dealing with disappointment, anger , guilt , coping with failures.
- Work at strengthening your emotional resilience so you can deal with change better. COGNITVE THERAPY [awareness of thoughts , converting irrational thoughts to rational helps to decrease stress… For eg I will not be able to give exams well this is irrational .Rational thought would be Although in some exams I have fared OK but I will try to do my best this time .. this helps to program mind in a different way and gain confidence. Performance is equated with self If I score well I am GOOD or else BAD This creates undue pressure.
- Be adaptable and flexible in your thoughts and attitude so that you can make use of all resources at hand, including your sense of humour to bail you out of difficult situations.
- Do not dwell on previous disappointments. The road ahead is the way to go .
- Active outdoor playing is missing from Indian scene , either there are study classes or children are on computer .The sedentary lifestyle leads to restlessness due to accumulation of energy hormones .Clay modeling [ making things out of clay, painting, physical activity helps to release FEEL GOOD hormones .
- Sharing with friends or group study is important in developing to ask help from others and team skills.
- Emotional expressivity in family is nil or very less , giving words to feelings, asking if the child is too quiet or silent , or has suddenly lessened interest in studies or friends will help to get a clear picture .communication is very important and at least
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one meal together improves bonding In family. - Playing in sand is a good releaser of excess energy or negative emotions.
- Expectations from Bright students[ IN SCHOOL AS WELLAS HOME] is high which in turn leads to TENSION AND ALSO GUILT IF THEY ARE NOT able to do well LOWERING MOTIVATION.
- Try to relax by listening to music, any hobbies, walking or any other form of exercise.
- Mind relaxation by deep breathing and visualizing yourself doing your studies well. You can visualize that you deal with difficult portions/questions well. This will help to program your mind and reduce exam related tension, helps to face exams , confidently and achieve success .
one meal together improves bonding In family.Five quick steps to success
- Speed reading the matter you have to study has to be read by following your eyes with the keeping the tip of pencil/pen kept below the words.
- Reading again by underlining the main points from each paragraph and putting a cross where it is difficult to grasp.
- Read the points marked with cross and try to solve the difficult part.
- Then read the underlined points again.
- Make a flow chart / mind map of the matter .For mind map write the topic of matter in centre and connected lines from it to main points. Separate main points can be shown with different colors and using symbols, pictures or drawings to represent the ideas. This can be kept in files and make revising easy.
Above All
There is no substitute for Hard Work and Efforts.
Compiled by
Ms MALINI SHAH
Senior Psychologist/Counselor
Aavishkar Center Dadar
Tel No: 2422 7515/98704 96238
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