Blog

Exam time is stressful for students as well as parents. There are two types of students one, who can be easy-breezy, do their revision and appear their exam while the other set of students, fear exam, take a lot of stress, fall ill just before exams.

Let us understand the Psychological Reaction to Stress

• Constant pressure
• Frustration and anger
• Tension
• Unable to concentrate.
• Psychosomatic symptoms like sweating-sweaty palms, headaches, stomach-aches, racing heart, nail-biting, teeth grinding, racing thoughts.

Why do people experience exam stress?

• Fear of failing
• Fear of getting fewer marks
• When not prepared fully
• Want to do really well
• Unable to grasp.
• Don’t have much time to study
• Need to get a certain result
• Parents and societal expectations
• Don’t understand what they are studying.
• Family pressure
• Competition
• Have other issues happening in their life

How can parents help their children before and while their exams are on-going?

1. Keep realistic expectations and don’t push them too hard
2. Be positive
3. Keep motivating your children no matter what.
4. Help the child in boosting his confidence especially when he/she seems discouraged. Do not displace your anxiety on the child.
5. Try to gain your child’s confidence and discuss his problems with him, help him to find a solution
6. Understand that just good schooling and tuition are not substitutes for emotional cushioning.
7. Do bring family conflicts in between studies of the children.
8. Encourage good sleep patterns and eating habits
9. Provide a comfortable space for them to study and prepare
10. Teach them the importance of study breaks
11. Encourage them to ask the teacher/parents questions if they’re unsure
12. Do not remind them of previous failures.
13. Be light and humorous with the child. Crack jokes to make the exam mood light.
14. Help them know what to expect on the day of the exam
15. Help them be on time for the exam or arrive early
16. After the exam, listen to their concerns and avoid criticizing them.
17. Let them know exams are not the end of the world.

We wish all the students “Best Luck”!!

To know about Mentriq, click here

All images by Pixabay.

Exam stress affects most students in varying ways. The stress level in school and college students is so high that they get a lot of physical symptoms due to stress.

Teachers and parents need to teach their children how to manage stress and find ways to manage it. Some students can take exams with ease but for many, it’s a task.

Here are some tips to eliminate or reduce your stress. It’s never too late to set up good study habits. Here are some helpful ideas:

Clear your room and table/desk:

Does your mother remind you to clean your room and study table? It’s scientifically correct. The more clutter you have around your room, the less you’re able to concentrate. Physical clutter overloads your brain and impairs your ability to think, which leads to stress.

Take enough breaks:

Research says it’s good to have a 17-minute break every 52 mins. A psychologist also agrees on this fact. Resting is important so that you remember what you have read. In this time period, you can read a newspaper/book/blog or do whatever you feel like doing to relax.

Time table:

Set up a time table and try to stick to it. But also remember that not to be hard on yourself if one or two items are missed. Right from waking up in the morning to sleeping in the night, get all your activities – like studying, reading a book, listening to music, watching some comedy show, lunch-dinner, exercise-playing and sleep schedule needs to be mentioned in the time-table.

Exercise:

A 15-20 min exercise like a walk, basic stretches, deep breathing exercises will help to soothe your mind. Meditation helps to relax the anxiety.

Diet:

Have a healthy diet, no junk food should be consumed and stay away from caffeine as much as possible. Stay hydrated. Have dark chocolate or hot chocolate while studying. Research has shown that an intake of a small amount of dark chocolate reduces stress hormone levels.

Concentrate on progress and not on perfection:

Do you think that you’ll never be able to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself? Do you feel you are good for nothing? If so, you may be a perfectionist. Being a perfectionist will give you stress. Set realistic goals instead of trying to achieve the impossible.

Know your learning style:

Are you a Visual/Audio/Kinaesthetic Learner? Know your best learning style and study. If you are a Visual learner, read and write your answers on a paper or in the book or on the black-white board; if an audio learner, read them as many times you want to so that grasping becomes easy and if you are a kinaesthetic learner, walk while you read/study. This will help you to remember what you study. We all have one particular learning style and if we use it while studying, it will benefit you.

Convert the negative thoughts into a positive one:

For every negative thought find a positive thought. Ex: I haven’t studied 2 chapters yet; I know I will get questions from those two chapters only. I know I have not studied but I will go through it and try to remember as much I can.

Avoid comparison:

Never compare with other students the amount of study you have revised. There could be chances that are you’re doing just fine, but after listening to other people talk about what they’ve learned, it will only stress you out and may make you feel like you aren’t progressing as well as them. Plus, if they themselves are stressed this can affect you and other people’s stress is not what you need right now. Don’t discuss the answers post-exam as well.

Create an environment:

Instrumental music, deep concentration music is available online, light up your room, burn aroma agarbatti/essential oils to have a nice environment to study.

Hope this will help you to study and concentrate better. Team Mentriq wishes you All the best!!!!

To know more about Team Mentriq, click here

All images by Pixabay.

Do you run away from social gatherings? Do you fear what people will say about whatever you say or feel? Do you get tremors when you are around a bunch of people? Does your voice get choked when you have to address something or introduce yourself? Are you conscious about yourself the way you dress, look, speak in public? All these are signs of Social Anxiety.

“Social anxiety is nothing but fear of meeting strangers, negative evaluation by others which leads to a sense of inadequacy, inferiority, embarrassment, self-consciousness, humiliation which later leads to depression.” It’s a mental health disorder / social phobia which is curable without taking any medicines.

These people want to be accepted by others, they also want people to talk to them upfront. Even after other people talk to them, their self-confidence is so low that they are conscious of what they are talking about and most of the time they want to talk but cannot or forget what they have to! People with social anxiety feel comfortable when they are alone in their comfort zone, preferably at home. As they don’t want others to know what they feel or are afraid of.

How to deal with this issue?

People with Social anxiety lack Self-esteem, self-confidence, self-awareness. The following are some tips to get over the fear of judgement.

Accept that people will judge.

People will judge you no matter what. If this acceptance is there then there is nothing to worry about. As people will judge you at this moment and forget it later.

Work on your Self Esteem.

• Ask yourself what do I exactly fear?
• What will the result be if I speak out?
• Once the fear is identified, work on that fear.
• Let your near and dear ones know about it so they can help you.
• If the above doesn’t work take help from a Counsellor or Psychologist.

Take the judgement as a learning

If the judgement matters, you may take efforts to make a shift in yourself. People often fear being judged as they lack on few qualities. But if they overcome their fears, social anxiety will be gone forever.

Take help from a Psychologist

A psychologist will help you to identify the root cause of this anxiety and help to remove it completely. They help you in thinking, behaving, and reacting to situations that help you feel less anxious and fearful. It can also help you learn and practice social skills.

To know more about Mentriq, click here

All images by Pixabay