How to manage the Board exam stress and anxiety

We get good support services and information about preparing for board exams nicely. However, we’re not much aware of the issues after these board exams. These post-board exam stress and anxiety issues are common among students and for many of them, it takes longer to cope. 

We have plenty of information and guidelines being released by the education board. We do participate in counseling and guidance sessions for excellent exam preparations and try to give our best. As parents its quite obvious to prioritize students’ exam schedules which focuses on students’ sleeping, eating, and reading schedules. We encourage our children to mug up and retain the subject content and try to look into IMPs. However, we do not pay attention to a child’s overall physical and mental well-being during the exam period.

This stimulated or let’s call it the very controlled environment leads to burnout and induces many difficulties that students have to suffer with. Mental health issues of students appearing for board examinations are often seen as an excuse. It is seen as an effort to get away with the hard work of preparing for exams. This is not only derogatory but also a very ignorant behavior from the side of parents and other family members and in many cases pushes a child into a high level of anxiety and more severe forms of psychological disorders.

There has been enough statistical data to show how exam anxiety results in impulsive actions like self-harm just in order to escape the period of stress. Thus, listed below are some of the important tips as Do’s and Don’ts for students and parents to cope with post-exam stress.

Don’ts – Search for answers in your notes after an exam, looking for corrections:

This is what students normally do just after their exam gets over and try to tally the number of correct and incorrect answers with their peers. Particularly for scoring subjects like maths, chemistry or physics, accountancy and for language papers, students try to estimate their scores. Around 15% to 25% of these comparative reviews are incorrect and don’t match with the actual exam paper performance. Also, it only increases the amount of stress and anxiety for those students who find their answers wrong, half-written, and assume them to be incorrect. These kinds of issues are quite common with language, theoretic papers. Instead of searching for answers students should have a positive discussion among a group of friends and feel confident about what they have written and should focus on the next step. They should actively engage themselves in some routine or vacation activities in order to stay away from repetitive thoughts about their performance.

Do’s – engage yourself in activities you enjoy as a part of a break from study, go for holidays and vacations!

By putting yourself into some enjoyable activity, you will gain energy and enthusiasm after your past routine of tight reading and exam preparations. Moreover, physical activities like playing your favorite game for few hours a week, listening to favorite music, doing art and crafts, exploring some new locations, and traveling will boost your inner as well as outer personality. It will ease the mental and physical burnouts that you had faced during exams. While doing such activities, we insist to give enough time for meditation and yoga, at least 30 minutes a day for mediation and few ASANAS of Yoga will help in developing better physical and mental posture. Particularly, for those students who are already having mental health issues like depression, mood disorders, anxiety issues.

Do Not – doubt your abilities and do not judge yourself on the basis of your last exam performance!

Always remember and believe that there’s always a fair chance and an opportunity again where you will be able to perform well / excellent. You should not lose hope for things to get back in shape. You cannot change your past but you can correct your present and can be ready for your future for the next bit of challenge in life. Board examination is just one stage of life and you either do it well or look for the next stage to do better. Self-doubt will yield out nothing good, instead, it will push your morale down.

Do – begin doing routine exercise, keep away from toxic (-Ve) people and talks.

Start helping your family, help your mother in housekeeping, help your father in grocery shopping, help your siblings in their work or other co-curricular activities. Keep yourself busy with some productive activity by end of the day. This will help you keep up the routine and will give you a good sleep.

Do not share your exam experience, your performance before toxic or negative people, as their views and comments will make you disturbed and if you are already having stress or anxiety issues it will increase your vulnerability. Instead spend time with people who inspire you, let you feel proud of yourself, and have faith in your ability.

Wish the best for the board results this summer…

for more information, counseling, and career guidance do write to us at: ajoshi@mindsfoundation.org or visit our website: http://www.mindsfoundation.org