Exams have always played a role of a villain in the lives of students. It has been a major reason for stress, anxiety and depression in the lives of students irrespective of age. Some of the exam failures also leads to suicides among students preparing for competitive exams. Exams has brought nightmares in the life of students since ages.
Although we have read a few negatives against exams but there are enormous amount of positives against the negatives. Exams play a very important role in our life. There are various benefits of exams that not only make us strong academically but also makes us mentally strong enough to face the real life problems. It teaches us the art to manage stress and the technique to deal with pressure. There are various benefits of exam.
Benefits of Exam
- Teaches values
- Rectification of mistakes
- Self analysis
- Scope of improvement
- Helps in gaining confidence
- Expands thinking capacity
- Teaches to work in time bound situations
- Develops logical thinking
- Helps explore our creativity
- Makes mentally strong
- Teaches stress and pressure handling
- Teaches to handle fear of failure
- Helps to overcome failure
- Develops overall personality
The conclusion is exams are really important for our growth and development to make us an asset for the society in almost every aspect. Now if we talk about the stress, anxiety and depression caused by exams is in major cases due to our mistakes and negligence. Suicides witnessed in exam pressure is majorly either due to lack of the required efforts put in or because in present days students take certain exam as the testimony of their future.
Exams stress has been a part of a recognizable section of our society. It is a high time when awareness on this topic is important for students, teachers and parents to fight against depression, anxiety and suicide related thoughts.
If exams are dealt in right manner then stress will be highly reduced. Students will be away from depression and suicide if they are being told the actual meaning and purpose of exam. There are some ways to deal with exam stress.
Study on a regular basis
Irregularity in studies is one of the major reason of building stress among students. There are a lot of students who do not study all round the year. They try to complete a bulk of syllabus in a very short span of time like a month, few weeks or even in few days. This practice builds a lot of stress, anxiety and pressure among the students. The pressure sometimes grows so much that in the remaining time also, it becomes nearly impossible for the students to study.
This is what leads to suicide and suicidal thoughts in severe cases. This problem can very easily solved by a method known as do the work when you are given. If students study the topics covered in a day the same day our problem is solved.
Teachers and parents should make sure that students should study a particular number of hours everyday. It should not be like they study 12 hours in one day and 1 hour in the other.
Stop procrastination
The word ‘procrastination‘ affects almost everyone’s life. Though everyone of us procrastinate and it is almost impossible to be free from it completely but what matters is that at which level we are procrastinating. There is a need to manage the same in a right manner.
Successful people are no different but are able to control their procrastination. All we have to take care is that it does not ruin hours of our day. Try to give your brain again and again a signal that you have to use your time wisely enough to control this thing in your life.
Understand the real meaning of Exam
The real meaning of exam is to gain confidence from your strengths and to work on your weaknesses. Exams mainly provides us an analysis. If you see round the world, analysis is of vital importance in every field. Without analysis any sort of hardwork and smartwork doesn’t give the desired result.
If you have not prepared well, it is quite obvious that you will not get a great result. Try to give exam to know your mistakes and not your marks. Convert your weaknesses into strengths and marks is a byproduct. The sole purpose of studies should be to do justice with what you have been taught. Study to learn and not for marks.
Exams should be given importance but any exam should not be understood the end of life. Life keeps on providing opportunities if you have failed earlier then, fight the failure and grab other opportunity and try again.
Do have a faith in God. If we do not get anything despite of our hardwork that means there is something better waiting for us in life. As per my father, “We do not know what is good for us in longterm. This is because we have not seen our future but God knows our future and hence decides better. So, everything happens for good.
Set your priorities for better results in Exam
Setting your priorities will help you in time management. It will prevent you from wasting time. When you have a priority set then it is clear in your mind that what are the major work to be done on the day. Setting your properties will help you to complete your tasks in time.
Try to set targets and work on it religiously. This will help you to manage your academics, health, fun and happiness. Thus, the balance in your life will be achieved.
Parents and teachers should help and motivate students to set the priorities. This should be developed as a habit for better results.
Stay healthy
Health is of prime importance above everything. Physical and mental wellbeing is the need of the hour. Diet plays a major role in our health so, we should take healthy diet. Junk food may seem tasty and satisfying but should be avoided.
Health should never be compromised as if we are not healthy it affect our academics and lead to difficulties during exam time. Writing exam is a difficult task but writing exam when you are sick is worse.
It is not possible to cut down the complete possibility of falling ill, but we can do what is in our hands. We should take the right precautions. It is important to take care of the diet and to burn some calories.
Another concern is to take caffeine and energy bars in a limited amount. It may seem as a good option in short term but it is not at all a good option in the long term. While the energy bars and sugar items may provide an instant energy, it does not last long and large intakes are really unhealthy.
Caffeine on the other hand if taken out of limit it develops anxiety and makes our brain. It is important to note that our physical health is directly related to the mental health. So, to get the desired results take care of your physical and mental wellbeing.
Exercise Regularly
During the phase of our student life, exercise and fitness is given least priority. It is always on the last lines of our bucket list. But exercise and fitness is one of the most important thing in the busy lifestyle of today.
Believe it or not- If we do not take care of our health in our twenties we will have to pay for it in our forties. Exercise not only keeps your body fit and active but also relaxes our brain. Regular breaks during studies is equally important and exercising during breaks is the best way of utilizing the breaks.
Exercise is a form of healthy distraction. It acts as a stress reliver and mind booster. It also plays an important role in increasing the retention power of our brain. Further, it helps in clearing the mind and renews the focus for further studies.
Meditation
Meditation is practiced by human being since ages. In ancient times, meditation was considered to develop a spiritual connect of body and mind. In present times, meditation is considered more of a medical treatment for stress and depression.
Meditation is an active solution for stress relief and relaxation. It brings physical, mental and emotional balance in our body. It teaches us the art of managing stress, pressure and anxiety. Meditating regularly brings calm and peace to our mind.
During the time of mediation, for a certain duration of time we are free from the problems, tensions and targets of our life. This brings peace and refreshes our brain. It leads to renewed focus and increased concentration.
Yoga is also a kind of meditation. It is a complete package for our mental and physical wellbeing. Performing yoga can not only serve the purpose of meditation but also has various health benefits. It also cures various diseases and helps in managing the right body posture.
Meditation purifies are thoughts and helps in relaxing our brain. There are various ways to meditate. Some ways by which you can practice meditation on your own are by deep breathing, engaging in a prayer, repeating a mantra or focus on our body.
There are many other types and forms of meditation. It hardly takes 10 minutes of a day according to our convenience but practicing it on a regular basis has great health benefits. This regular practice also improves the quality of our life.
Avoid Exam time Overstressing on studies
Overstressing on studies is many times due to lack of preparation, poor management of the curriculum or limitation of time. Not studying on a regular basis leads to improper preparation which ultimately results in less time for preparation leading to anxiety and fear.
There are certain cases when students study the chapters, topics or the subject of their interest leaving behind the others. This practice hampers the preparation which is solely due to poor management.
Before the exam day, students also many times skip the sleep partially or completely leading increase in stress and writing exam with not a fresh and calm mind. This is also the effect of improper preparation.
It has been observed that some students study more than three hours at a stretch. This results in reduced focus, concentration, interest and retentions. This can be solved by studying in slots of one to one and a half hours at a stretch. After every slot, take a break of five to ten minutes.
Following this process can help in completing the tasks and syllabus in relatively lesser time and retaining for longer time. The cases mentioned are various kind of overstressing. If the syllabus is managed in a right manner, the problem of overstressing will be automatically solved.
Fear of Failure
Fear of failure is faced by almost everyone of us. This is the reason for not getting the result we deserve. The fear of failure is majorly due to peer pressure, social status, etc.
Overcoming fear of failure is an elephant’s task. Many times this failure stops us from doing certain things that can help us grow and develop to achieve better in life. It’s an easy task to deal with success but it takes a lot of guts to face and overcome failure with complete strength.
Taking failure in a positive way is the half work done for success. Thomas Edison succeeded in lighting the bulb after ten thousand attempts. And when he was asked that he failed ten thousand times, he said that he learned ten thousand different things to reach this one success.
Never try to control what you cannot control. Give your best, then you are successful.
Spend Quality time with your family
The lifestyle of the present times is a lot busier than it was before. This is the reason we are getting apart. Spending quality time will help us to share our feelings and problems with people who care about us the most.
This will not only solve our problems but also reduce stress. It will bring us joy and happiness and make our life more meaningful. Sharing problems with others help reduce our burden.
Family is always the well-wisher and gives us the right guidance. The feeling of loneliness in this large universe will no longer exist.
Parting Words from Podium
Every problem has a solution. Therefore, if exams are dealt in a proper manner and are taken with the purpose of learning then the stress and anxiety will reduce to a manageable level.
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