The World Health Organization (WHO)
defines adolescence as the period of life between 10-19 years. Adolescence is
said to be a period of stress and strain. Adolescents are a special group
because of their developmental stage and the special problems. Examination in
school or college is a part of academic life. The incidence of exam anxiety has
risen from 27% in 2009 to almost 40% in 2010 among all the calls received.
Examination stress is better prevented than treated. A systematic, persistent,
organized, planned and regular effort from the beginning of the academic
session is the best method for any adolescent to prevent anxiety related to
examination.
Exam stress is a problem that affects the
majority of students. It is often claimed that the less stressed students are
the better they pass their exams. In this essay I will discuss two possible
approaches that could be taken into consideration by schools and universities
in order to help young people during the exam period.
Firstly, educational institutions could
create special courses so as to help students revise all the necessary information.
There is no doubt that many young people do not pay enough attention to
revision, so teachers should provide such courses in order to reduce stress
level and make sure the youngsters are fully prepared. Another
method could be to give students more opportunities for relaxing. As an option,
some cultural activities could be provided in order to distract the youngsters
from their studies. I believe that young people need to understand the
importance of relaxation while studying. Not only could these activities help
them to relax, but students could also learn something new and useful.
Students often feel stressed when
preparing for examinations due to pressure from school and family due to
constant competition and comparison with peer group and good performers.
Managing this stress is a big concern among young pupils. In order to make
children get higher academic results parents criticize children by comparing
with better performers in family, friends and society, which makes students
panic about exam. Parents force children to study with no relaxation time resulting
in an atmosphere where students panic, feel neglected and eventually fall
emotionally collapsed. Students when unable to meet the expectations of the
parents and pressure from society to be best, lower the self confidence in them
and start to develop a feeling of insecurity and also suffer from depression
and other mental health problems. A further cause in exam
stress could be due to negligence and over confidence which leads to
consequences such as lack of preparation time and deviation by distraction
while studying. Every child has a unique way to understand things and the
pedagogy of teaching plays an important role in developing knowledge among students.
Difficult task, over loaded homework, continuous exams cause internal pressure
on the other hand it leads to demotivation, overwhelming situations resulting
to lose focus in studying. Students spent more than five hours on social media,
which is the main reason in deviation from studying.
Here are some tips to help exam day go
smoothly:
Work out what you need to take with you on
exam day and organise this the night before.
Eat a good, light breakfast – this will
help with energy and concentration.
If you feel yourself getting worried
before your exam - spend some time focusing on your breathing.
When you sit down to do your exam, take
time to slow your breathing and relax.
Read through the exam paper carefully.
Underline key words and instructions.
Work out how long you have for each
question or section.
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