Exam stress? put your worries into perspective with us

The times of examination are quite stressful for many or most of us. Exams gauge how well we have learned the material that has been taught to us by our teachers. They can be real testers for everyone. It is a terrifying and fearsome experience for many to date. Exam stress occurs when we feel an increased sense of panic and stressing out. It is natural to have some amount of exam stress, but there are ways to overcome the same. Here are a few tips to perform better in examinations-

1. Start your Revision Early- This is probably the most traditional strategy and something you all have heard most of the time from your teachers and parents, and yes! That is one of the most common and efficient ways to score well and get decent marks in the examinations. There is no shortcut to getting good grades. But this is a technique that would help you all to tackle the exam stress a bit because when the revision is done beforehand, the students get enough time to understand what are his/her shortcomings and the areas where they need to work harder upon to secure good marks.
2. Speak to your teachers- The teachers are your mentors and constant guides who are there for you at all times. They are the ones who clear all our clouds of uncertainty and doubts over any subject. But it can be observed that many a time the students do not clear up their basic doubts and thus, are in distress. They disregard the fundamental reality that their grades will suffer if they do not ask their doubts answered by their teachers. Therefore it is important for students to ask questions and let their doubts out so that the teachers can help them and thus can achieve great results.
3. Plan and set realistic goals- Setting up goals is one of the very necessary steps to be taken by the students for better performance in exams. But what is more important is for the goals to be attainable and realistic. Everyone studies in a different way and what works for your friend might not work for you. A great way to reduce your exam anxiety is to revise in a way that’s suited to how you learn. Some people study most effectively in groups where they can talk through the material together and quiz each other, while many prefer to study alone in some peace. Before the exam period starts, determine what you need to review for each exam and figure out how early you need to start revising to cover everything. Then make yourself a study schedule, breaking down the topic you want to study day by day. Be realistic about how much you can study each day when allocating your time.
4. Vary your revision practices/techniques — There is a saying that goes, variety is the spice of life and that should be certainly applied by the students while they study or prepare for the exams. Always repeating the same things can be quite boring and can create a sense of dullness. The various alternatives to reading just the school notes include- doing practice papers or worksheets from various subjects that would help you to make remember the notes or test your understanding. Drawing mind maps or other summary diagrams to test how much can you remember. Notice where you have left out the details and accordingly, you can work on it. Group discussion sessions with seniors or friends can also serve as a helpful tool. Another fun learning tool can be changing the location where you study, in research, it has been found that this can help improve memory retention as there is a relation between the background and the things you study.
5. Organise your study hour- Set a proper timetable for yourself if you want to complete all your syllabus on time. Set the timetable based on the different subjects you have in your syllabus. Make sure that you dedicate the finest time and the time when you are most active mentally to do your everyday study. When students set a proper timetable to do their homework, it helps them to complete their syllabus on time and also saves a lot of time to do other activities as such activities are also important for holistic development. Students should go through their timetable to look over all the subjects to study and rank them as per priority whenever they are planning to study the same for examinations. This will help them complete their syllabus and as a result, they would not have exam stress during the time of the exam.
6. Look after yourself well- There is no prize for surviving the exam stress alone. Looking after yourself is necessary all the time but it is during exam time that you need to take extra care of yourself. You will be able to work better if you rest well, and have a balanced and proper diet in addition to an adequate amount of sleep. Exercise and physical activity is a great way to boost up yourself. It’s very difficult to sustain all the concentration for hours in the study and that is why when you find your mind wandering into some other world apart from study, that is a sign that you need some much-needed break time to re-energize yourself and bring all the lost concentration back.
7. Learn to Recognize when you’re stressed — It is really important not to give yourself a very hard time when it comes to dealing with all the exam stress. Well, we know that’s easier said than done but this is probably one of the most important issues to deal with i.e you need to learn and understand when you are feeling stressed. Putting yourself under a lot of stress might have a negative effect on your mental as well as physical health. Being kind to yourself during periods of anxiety is likely to give you a bit more motivation to work harder. Take some time out from revision to pamper yourself or to have some me-time and/or catch up with some near and dear ones.

When you’re stressed, the brain releases a high level of cortisol, which can interrupt proper thinking and planning and cause a hindrance in the path of rational thinking. With the above tips, you can not only get away from the exam stress but also can smash your way out of the exams. These simple steps would help you to increase your productivity and help you deal with the overwhelming feeling of exam stress. Don’t forget to apply these for your next upcoming exams.

About SFS School, Guwahati

SFS Guwahati is one of the best Private CBSE School in Guwahati with Integrated Coaching, awarded with the "Certificate of Excellence" by Bharat Shiksha Puraskar and Ranked №24 across India for "Mental Health" Ranking 2021.

Teacher and content writer at St. Fransic De Sales School. https://sfsguwahati.ac.in/