I study in Class VIII and am not a bad student. Recently, however, I have begun having trouble preparing for my final exams. First, I cannot remember things that I studied in the morning. This is making me nervous and unable to sleep at night — leading to a headache in the morning, which is making it impossible to study. How do I break out of this circle?

Riddhi Ghosh

Asansol

I know only too well how, in the days and hours just before an important examination, the fever of uncertainty strikes. This anxiety may manifest itself in one or more ways. You may lose sleep or your ability to memorise things before the exam. Some complain of body aches and almost all of us are familiar with the feeling of having butterflies in the stomach. Somehow, examinations have a way of putting us under pressure. The fact that the performance of a few hours determines the label attached to us is a scary feeling. After all, the opinions of our parents, friends and teachers will — unfortunately — be determined by how well we do in exams. That is enough to stress out even the steadiest person.

The first reason that exams have us all anxious is the fear of failure. The root cause of all the misgiving concerning tests is this fear, which is often not dependant on our abilities at all.

The next reason is that examinations are often treated as competitive tournaments by students and parents alike. Even though some of us thrive on healthy competition, the pressure can sometimes become unmanageable. The stress occasionally becomes so high that a student starts to crumble and cannot give his or her best performance.

The third reason, which may be true in your case, is lack of preparation. Many of us underestimate the effort required to study the complete syllabus. Due to a disastrous habit of procrastination that many of us have, the time available for preparation keeps reducing and the stress keeps increasing. With each passing day we become more edgy due to the work left incomplete.

To cope with exam stress, it is important to identify the reasons for your anxiety. That will guide you to the optimum solution. Here are some other things you can do to overcome it.

• Learn to relax. As you may know, a tightly wrung cloth when put in water will soak up much less than will a loose piece of cloth. It is the same with the human mind — the more relaxed it is, the better it can absorb and perform. Meditate, do breathing exercises, take morning walks or play a game — preferably outdoors — to take your mind off the constant anxiety and pressure.
• Build confidence. Owing to the unrealistic pressures that you have to face, it is very important that, over time, you develop realistic expectations of yourself. It is important to identify your strengths and weaknesses.
• Practise. There are no shortcuts so practise, practise and practise some more. Recreate the examination situation by taking mock tests. Try and answer the questions within the given time. This will train you to work in time-bound situations and under pressure.
• Be prepared. Give yourself a small reward each time you successfully accomplish a goal. Also, breaking the syllabus into bite-sized pieces makes it easier to deal with and complete.

Shivani Manchanda has master’s degrees in career counselling and child development. She has been counselling about opportunities in India and abroad since 1991. Mail your queries to telegraphyou@ gmail.com with Ask Shivani in the subject line