A student must be encouraged, right from the bud, to bring equanimity and balance in the face of stressful situations like exams
One of the most common, most important and least talked-about topics in our midst is the fear and the fever induced by that fear in the heart and mind of an exam-taking student. Life is full of different kinds of exams. All of them are full of their own set of challenges. But the fever and the conceptual constipation associated with exams to excel in a particular career is unmatched.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly echoed the sentiments of the exam-taking students and aspirants in his number of convocation addresses and fortnightly Mann Ki Baat to motivate the student community to face the odds bravely, work hard with utmost devotion and concentration, without being tripped down by the pressures of the examinations. Even from normal imagery, exams conjure pictures of stress, demotivation, unassuredness and a feeling of being lost.
Therefore, it is imperative that there needs to be a cogent strategy in place to surmount the barriers of exam stress and the pernicious anxiety accompanying it. Only then can one come out unscathed and triumphant. Some research works say that an exam-taking youngster’s psyche harps close to getting neurotic before any exam. In this context, there needs to be a strong support structure in the form of helping school, supportive parents and other relatives and a positive social discourse in place.
As for a current of tension setting in with the announcement of the exam date sheet, a degree of it is an absolute must. But to let that tension get bolstered into something unreasonably gigantic and drive oneself crazy is meaningless. Therefore, it is quite natural to take some tension. But don’t let yourself be bogged down by any of that. Focus on understanding the concepts, without any nastiness in responding to everything that is beyond one’s control. Competition and any negative energy associated with that are always secondary. More important is to secure the nitty-gritty of basic concepts.
Being regular in one’s studies helps big time. Nothing compares itself to sustained hard work. Consistency can do away with the need to stay long hours, exhaustion, less confidence and harming one’s health in the process. Consistency, perseverance and persistence are the best qualities to be cultivated as part of one’s normal regimen months before the exams.
Avoiding procrastination must be one’s second nature. Delaying the tasks to be done beforehand need not be made into a burden for tomorrow. It reduces the exam load and in turn, kicks down any potential source of stress during exam time.
Maintaining a good and hope-inspiring select-company of friends, family and acquaintances helps to a great extent. For a normal person, the value of good friends and family comes as a free good. One doesn’t understand their importance in any tangible sense. It is only when one hits a trough or gets stuck in the sinews of tension during exam preparation, does one realise the oft-neglected, importance and indispensability of friends and family. Their conversations are an effective antidote to the exam-time tension.
Sleeping well helps a lot and goes a long way in keeping the stress levels of a person down. Oftentimes, a student or an aspirant, in the wish to excel and flap past others, studies for long and odd nocturnal (night-time) hours. This causes a body’s circadian rhythm to get disturbed, which further leads to the depletion of the brain’s ability to retain the facts necessary for getting conceptual clarity, loss of concentration, heightening of irritability and exhaustion. Sleeping well, i.e., having a healthy sleep of 7-8 hours is a necessity. Sleeping helps in the reduction of Oxygen debt in the brain. Humans are diurnal animals (awake during daytime). Peaking one’s hard work during the daytime helps in getting the best out of books and notes.
Taking expert guidance from teachers and counsellors helps. Expert guidance helps a student to gain an edge in the core competence of a study area/specialisation. They help one in breaking the rough edges down, making the conceptual highway clear.
Revision, revision and revision is the keyword in the process of overcoming any sensed and un-sensed impediment of preparation. Reading and consulting from one book repeatedly, unswerving is a thousand times better than reading only once or twice from 10 books. Revising breeds confidence like nothing does. Confidence births a winning edge. Winning edge wipes out stress, before the exam and forever.
Taking breaks in between study sittings restores the newness of a fatigued body and mind. Placing breaks of 15 minutes after every 3-hour study session helps in better imbibition of the course material. Such breaks help one to bring better strategy and depth to one’s preparation for the exam/paper/subject. Thus reducing the bugbear of changing gears or tack just days before the exam.
Developing hobbies helps. Hobbies help give an extra dimension to a student’s preparation in particular and life in general. Meaningful habits and hobbies like walking, reading books, cooking, watching movies and documentaries, listening to good music etc always lend a broader perspective to the preparation. At times, preparation makes one bookish. Hobbies help in better expression and explanation of things in an exam. This helps in making one brace for the exams in a better way.
The above list is just a brief outline of some of the ways and avenues to counter the exam fever which buckles down many a student at the prime points of their take-off. We, as a society, need to develop a sound ecosystem which shall act as an effortless vent to the students suffering in the deep alleys of frustration, cynicism and depression. At the student’s level, a student must be encouraged, right from the bud, to bring equanimity and balance in the face of stressful situations like exams. On a lighter note, exams are just exams only. They are not a matter of life and death. Helping youngsters facing cut-throat competition in a world of 8 billion people can save many a life from committing suicide.
The writer can be reached at mo*************@***il.com