Coping
Examination Stress
As
the examination time comes closer, many students approach me with certain
uneasy symptoms like lack of sleep and hunger, anxiety, depression or a
strange unknown fear. Attribution of all such symptoms to examinations may
not be justified. A strange combination of factors such as family
environment, parental attitudes/expectations, friends, social circle,
individual emotions and the aspirations plays a crucial role in causing
stress/worry. Fear of failure too, adds up and multiplies your tensions
related to the examination. Take the example of your school performance -
you may have scored 76% marks at +10 level, but they may be of no use for
getting admission in the subject of your own choice. Out of lakhs of
candidates only a few hundred are able to get through a medical,
engineering or management college. Millions of graduates remain unemployed
despite there sincere and hard work.
Such
an exposure to reality (of life) throws a challenge to your potentials. No
matter how good a student you are or how well you have prepared for your
examination, just do not let worry come anywhere closer to you or it will
overshadow all your positive achievements and labor.
Worry
causes depression, forgetfulness, irritability and unsociability. The
sufferer of worry is always tired and is less efficient in every way than
he/she should be normally. The only beneficiaries are those who market
their products like 'tranquilizers' and 'tonics'. Some students and
parents are tempted to use such short term (or no-term) remedies to cope
with stress.
Parents
usually show their concern for children (especially during examination) by
buying a couple of bottles of such tonics. However, they do not remove the
causes and reasons of anxiety/worry. In order to remove the problems
related to worry/anxiety, it is necessary for you to know, understand and
develop some kind of insight into the problem.
|
