Exam stress

Thought of running away from home crosses Ravi's mind every year before the exam. He is in class IX and is  14 year’s old, this has been goung on since last few years. He becomes so tensed that he cannor concentrate in studies. The pressure of doing well, expectations of  parents, peers pressure are too much to handle..   Recently he is often caught in class day dreaming. During interaction Ravi stated that he dreamt most of the time that he is doing well, teachers are very happy and his parents too are very happy..and as  a result most of study time went off and at the end of the day he felt more guilty upset. He was not able to cope with this sitaution.  As a result he started developing exam phobia and slowly his performance in exams started deteriorating.

In one of our stress management session with student in a school we came to know about this issue. The question arises why students like Ravi suffer so much from this syndrome called Exam Stress. After he received the required counseling he is doing well now and lot of his exam phobia has reduced.

This brought us to think as exams are round the corner to drop a few lines on this issue…..

Exams themselves are a compelling experience that causes stress, because the stakes are high: the dreams that students make for their lives, the beginning of a career, the expectations that they have for themselves, the expectations parents have for their children.

The exam stress is usually associated with the fear that students will disappoint their parents by their performance, and with the expectations they have from themselves.  Also, through the negative thoughts created in our mind when we feel fear for something and unconsciously  we "prepare" the way for our failure, because we think and behave in such a way as to fail!

Stress is dangerous and can have negative effects on our health when we it gets out of control. In such cases like exam stress it can:

·         Limit the ability of  actual performance and

·         Makes us suffer, both physically and mentally

                So students be careful