Do you feel anxious on the day of your exam? Can you hear your tummy growl? Do you face mood swings? Do you witness sleepless nights? These are a few symptoms of exam stress and are a common problem among all ages, the FEAR is REAL. It is normal to become nervous and panic-stricken when examinations are around the corner, but any stress for a prolonged period of time can affect one’s mental and physical health and may hamper academic performance. Therefore, it is critical to acknowledge the stress and work on it.

Parents, teachers, and friends play an important role, they can help students let go of the anxiety and fear and prepare well for the examination.  It is vital to understand the root cause of the phobia; it could be lack of preparation, underconfidence, self-judgment, fear of letting down the expectations of parents, over expectation of near and dear ones, and much more.

Famous personalities such as Albert Einstein, Elvis Presley failed miserably in their academic and music classes, but their perseverance and hard work paid off, only by adopting the mantra, try, try till you succeed. So, if they can do it so can you. The real question is, are you ready for it?

Our proven academic expertise and innovative teaching techniques help students       prepare well for exams and boost their confidence

Here are a few steps which could help you eliminate exam phobia –

1. Identify the most productive hour of your day, be it early morning, afternoon, evening, or late night. Select a time frame that is comfortable for you and you think you can concentrate better.
2. Take period breaks during your study time. Take deep breaths, walk, stretch to relax your muscles and brain.
3. Take notes, read aloud, practice to understand, and register what you learn.
4. Do not shy away from asking doubts and seek help.
5. Ensure you sleep enough.
6. Avoid studying at the last minute. Start revising early.
7. Take deep breaths before your exam to remove stress.
8. Have a look at the whole question paper and start answering the question which you are fully confident of. You can work on difficult questions later.
9. Avoid discussing your answers, remember you did the best of your capabilities and your worries cannot change your answers. Focus on your next exam.

 

Coming back to the topic, how can parents and teachers help students overcome examinophobia? Inspire and motivate your children or students, make teaching fun, avoid comparing your child with others, and stop putting pressure and your expectation on the child. Understand, every child has different learning and adaptive skills, allow them to make mistakes, fail and learn from them.

Always remember, scoring low, failing an exam is not the only thing in life, learning from your mistakes and improving learning capabilities is important. Learn to face your fears and remember the famous quote by, Bill Cosby, stand-up comedian

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”

by Dessy Joy

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The cover image used for the blog is a copyright-free image credited to Creator: Photographer: Bruce Matsunaga
Copyright: Bruce Matsunaga https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/