Dr Abdul Majid
Dr. Farhana Rafiq
On just hearing “Exams are coming”, most of our children and adolescents start with a short term apprehensiveness which is natural. Stress related to exams may have both negative and positive effects. Positive stress is must which makes us to prepare better, while negative stress is not good and is unhealthy, as this creates anxiety which is out of proportion and person may start with negative effects of the same and he may start with poor concentration and lack of confidence. But it differs from person to person, as some would have a little bit of anxiety which goes off within a day, while for others it is more stressful, and literally so apprehensive as if failure is the only outcome.
Academic stress refers to the state of mental distress which arises due to the fear of failure in academics and inability of students to cope up with the challenges. It obstructs a student’s ability to focus and function effectively and decreases their efficiency and productivity. High level of academic stress can be alarming, leading to various mental health problems. Academic stress puts negative impact on the mental health of students regardless of the age and gender. A sound mind, as the saying goes, resides in a sound body, and students must be involved in physical and extracurricular relaxing activities to reduce their stress levels.
It is high time parents stop overburdening their children with their own high expectations. Likewise, the schools and universities should create a stress-free environment for students where they can excel at their own pace. On their part, the students need to understand that keeping a healthy balance is a basic life skill they need to master for their bright future.
What Is Test Anxiety?
Test anxiety is a psychological condition in which people experience extreme distress and anxiety in testing situations. While many people experience some degree of stress and anxiety before and during exams, test anxiety can actually impair learning and hurt test performance.
Identifying Test Anxiety:
While people have the skills and knowledge to do very well in these situations, their excessive anxiety impairs their performance. The severity of test anxiety can vary considerably from one person to another. Some people might feel like they have “butterflies” in their stomach and while others might find it difficult to concentrate on the exam.
A little bit of nervousness can actually be helpful, making you feel mentally alert and ready to tackle the challenges presented in an exam. Essentially, increased arousal levels can help you do better on exams, but only up to a certain point.
Once these stress levels cross that line, the excessive anxiety you might be experiencing can actually interfere with test performance. Excessive fear can make it difficult to concentrate and you might struggle to recall things that you have studied. You might feel like all the information you have learned over the period of time during preparations suddenly seems inaccessible in your mind.
You blank out the answers to questions to which you know you had the answers. This inability to concentrate and recall information then contributes to even more anxiety and stress, which only makes it that much harder to focus your attention on the test.
Test anxiety can be unpleasant and stressful, but it is also treatable. If you believe that test anxiety is interfering with your ability to perform well, try utilizing some self-help strategies designed to help you manage and lower your anxiety levels.
Symptoms of Test Anxiety
The symptoms of test anxiety can vary considerably and range from mild to severe. Some students experience only mild symptoms of test anxiety and are still able to do fairly well on exams. Few students are nearly incapacitated by their anxiety, performing dismally on tests or experiencing panic attacks before or during exams.
Physical Symptoms
Physical symptoms of test anxiety include sweating, shaking, rapid heartbeat, dry mouth, fainting, and nausea. Sometimes these symptoms might feel like a case of “butterflies” in the stomach, but they can also be more serious symptoms of physical illness such as nausea, diarrhea, or vomiting.
Cognitive and Behavioral Symptoms
Cognitive and behavioral symptoms can include avoiding situations that involve testing. This can involve skipping class or even dropping out of school. In other cases, people might use drugs or alcohol to cope with symptoms of anxiety.
Other cognitive symptoms include memory problems, difficulty concentrating, and negative self-talk.
Emotional Symptoms
Emotional symptoms of test anxiety can include depression, low self-esteem, anger, and a feeling of hopelessness. Fortunately, there are steps that students can take to alleviate these unpleasant and oftentimes harmful symptoms. By learning more about the possible causes of their test anxiety, students can begin to look for helpful solutions.
While test anxiety can be very stressful for students who experience it, many people do not realize that is actually quite common. Nervousness and anxiety are perfectly normal reactions to stress. For some people, however, this fear can become so intense that it actually interferes with their ability to perform well.
A few potential causes of test anxiety include:
Fear of failure: If you connect your sense of self-worth to your test scores, the pressure you put on yourself can cause severe test anxiety.
Poor testing history: If you have done poorly on tests before, either because you didn’t study well enough or because you were so anxious, you couldn’t remember the answers, this can cause even more anxiety and a negative attitude every time you have to take another test.
Unpreparedness: If you didn’t study or didn’t study well enough, this can add to your feeling of anxiety.
Biological factors
In stressful situations, such as before and during an exam, the body releases a hormone called adrenaline. This helps prepare the body to deal with what is about to happen and is commonly referred to as the “fight-or-flight” response. Essentially, this response prepares you to either stay and deal with the stress or escape the situation entirely.
In a lot of cases, this adrenaline rush is actually a good thing. It helps prepare you to deal effectively with stressful situations, ensuring that you are alert and ready. For some people, however, the symptoms of anxiety they feel can become so excessive that it makes it difficult or even impossible to focus on the test.
Symptoms such as nausea, sweating, and shaking hands can actually make people feel even more nervous, especially if they become preoccupied with these test anxiety symptoms.
Psycho-social factors
In addition to the underlying biological causes of anxiety, there are many psychosocial factors that can play a role in this condition. Student expectations are one major mental factor. For example, if a student believes that she will perform poorly on an exam, she is far more likely to become anxious before and during a test.
Test anxiety can also become a vicious cycle. After experiencing anxiety during one exam, students may become so fearful about it happening again that they actually become even more anxious during the next exam. After repeatedly enduring test anxiety, students may begin to feel that they have no power to change the situation, a phenomenon known as learned helplessness.
A,B,C’s of Coping with Stress during Exams
Adequate Sleep
Sleeping rejuvenates our mind and body. The brain needs sleep to recharge and refresh itself and your brain is the most important part of you that you will be relying upon during exams. So get good sleep the night before any exam. I know most of us can’t help but stay up late at night to revise important topics and sometimes nerves don’t let us fall asleep too well. Set a cut off time when you will shut your books, turn off the lights and get to bed. Try to maintain that time for days before the exam so that your body is used to falling asleep at that time.
Avoid tea or coffee late at night. Also avoid too many sugary food in the evening or night as it can make you hyperactive, making it difficult for you to fall asleep.
Avoid perfectionism
Avoid the perfectionist trap. Don’t expect to be perfect. We all make mistakes and that’s okay. Knowing you’ve done your best and worked hard is really all that matters, not perfection.
Avoid stress
Final exams are the most stressful times in any student’s life, no matter what grade you are in. Nervousness is natural, but what will give you most confidence at this time is how well your preparation is. If you have studied well, your stress level is likely to be low because you are ready to face what the paper brings. So the most important factor that will keep you stress-free is studying well, which you should have done by this time.
It seems somewhat unfair that an entire year’s efforts are judged on what you do during the two- or three-hour long exams. If at that particular time you fail to perform at your peak, it really doesn’t matter how well you did the rest of the year. So make sure that on the exam day you are physically and emotionally fit, relaxed and rested.
Keep yourself motivated by pushing away negative thoughts. If you find yourself worrying too much, talk to family and good friends who can make you feel at ease and know what to do to calm you down. Don’t let yourself panic all alone.
Next, you should avoid people or friends who are stressed. It is common for friends to discuss their preparation and feelings before exams, when you find someone freaking out or lamenting how difficult a subject/syllabus is or how bad their preparation is, just run from there. Don’t listen to such negative messages and mess up your mind just before a paper.
Another thing that can suddenly stress out a student is discussions with others before a paper about each person’s state of preparation. When students start comparing their preparations with others, it is bound to make some of them nervous if they think they missed a topic or didn’t learn things as well as others have done. You really do not need this kind of discussion to feel more stressed than necessary.
Balanced Diet
Be mindful of your diet during exams. Have things that give you energy, keep your stomach set and are suitable for beating the heat in this hot weather. Avoid things that upset your stomach as you can’t afford restroom breaks during exams.
Keep a water bottle handy during exams, if it is allowed. Take very small sips if you feel the need, but don’t drink too much water as you might need a washroom break. But don’t keep sweating and dehydrating while avoiding water all together as you will then not feel very well.
Avoid heavy meals just before exams.
Comfortable environment and connectedness
Create a comfortable environment to study, keep enough lighting and ventilation. Soft Music may help to focus, as per your convenience.
Calm yourself down and connect to friends and family in case you need help.
Don’t Self-medicate
Self-medication temporarily may help but is hazardous in long run, instead meditate.
Exercise
Though time is less during exams to go for a routine exercise, however strolling around for few minutes after every meal will help you to refresh yourself.
Fasting (The Holy Month of Ramadhaan)
Since Ramazan is just around the corner, many of you will be in a dilemma to fast or not on the day of an exam. Well this is a personal decision which you and your parents need to make.
If you decide to fast during exams, you can easily do it by being mindful of a few things. The most obvious thing to focus on is what you eat at Sehr and Iftar. You need to have things that give you some energy boost at Sehr to sail through the day and have things that are easy on the stomach, while being nutritious, at Iftar.
keep drinking water to replace what was lost in the day. But more important than this is the time management that you need to be strict about. As you will be getting up for Sehr and fasting can make one a little low on energy, your study hours will need to be planned well.
You need to see when you feel at your mental and physical peak and set that time to study. Take breaks and rest at those times, especially in the evening, when you can’t seem to focus.
Get things ready for the morning
Everything you need during exams need to be set and ready the night before. Put in your bag all your pens, pencils and any other stationary that you need, your school/exam cards, watch, calculator and anything else that you will need for your exam.
Do check what kind of bag or stationary case you are allowed and what you are not allowed to use during exams so that you do not find yourself in a mess in the examination hall. For instance, if you forget the all-important identification card, etc., and if this creates some problem for you, even if it gets resolved, the incident will make you stressed out and affect your performance.
Have your clothes, socks and shoes all ready and placed at easy access so that you don’t have to look for something in the morning.
Help can be sought
If you need extra support, make an appointment with your school counselor or primary care physician.
Depending on the severity of your symptoms, you may need psychological/ psychiatric intervention who may also recommend cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), anti-anxiety medications, or a combination of both. CBT focuses on helping people change both the behaviors and underlying thoughts that contribute to unwanted behaviors or feelings.
