How to Overcome Exam Fear

Exams are a way of assessing what a student has learned during the academic year. These allow the teachers to evaluate the learning and grasping abilities of the student. Therefore, students need to achieve good scores in the examinations.

However, most students experience a lot of stress while preparing for exams. They feel a lot of pressure, as both their parents and teachers expect them to get high scores. Though it is normal to feel a little bit of fear and anxiety, there are times when the students are unable to study and perform well due to fear and anxiety.

At times, students tend to forget what they have learned due to fear. Under such circumstances, they end up scoring less than they could have. Hence, it is extremely crucial for students to learn about how to overcome fear, so that they can give their examination confidently, subsequently earning good grades.

Students who feel anxious are likely to experience problems such as difficulty in concentrating while studying, confusion, feeling stressed while looking at difficult questions, feeling blank, dizziness, sweating, sleeplessness, etc.

All these factors further induce fear, which in turn causes the student to feel more anxious. This can have an adverse effect on the student's performance. Here are some tips to help students affected by exam-related fear:

Students are more likely to experience fear or anxiety if they have not studied properly. There are many students who take studies lightly. Unfortunately, they keep procrastinating, and leaving everything to be studied at the last minute. So, when the exams are just around the corner, they feel scared, as they don't know where to start, and what to study.

Hence, the easiest way of overcoming this problem is to start studying much before the exam. Studying regularly and revising what has been taught in the class on a daily basis will certainly prove beneficial. Thus, students will only have to revise before the exams. Students will feel confident, as they would have studied everything already.

One of the common mistakes that many students make is that they don't make an effort to understand the subject; they just mug up without understanding. Students must understand that this is not the correct way of studying. Moreover, the chances of forgetting are more, when one has memorized without understanding.

Hence, it is very important to understand the concept before memorizing it. In this way, you will never forget any important point. Also, you will be able to present the points in your own words, even if you do not remember the answer word-by-word. Thus, follow this method of effective learning, and you will feel confident.

Examination time does not mean that you have to sit with your books for the entire day. This actually should be avoided, and one should take regular breaks to relax and refresh one's mind. Go for walks, listen to music, and talk to friends and family. It will help you feel relaxed.

Avoid watching the television or browsing the Internet during this time. This is because, many students are addicted to television and Internet, and they are more likely to waste more time.

The last few weeks before the examination should be spent by revising each subject, in order to prevent anxiety in students. Plan out a timetable in such a way that you get equal time to revise every topic. During this time, you can make some notes or mnemonics, which will make it easier for you to remember points and revise them quickly.

If you are concerned about your writing speed, solve a question paper of the previous year. This will give you more confidence. It will also help you in knowing what you should do or not do while writing your exam paper.

Apart from the aforementioned tips, here are some points that will help students cope with exam-related anxiety, and prepare well for the examinations.

• One very important thing that students should remember, is to avoid studying anything new just before the exam. This will cause more anxiety, and you may forget what you have already learned.

• It is also important to avoid having conversations with your friends about what they have studied, and how much they have studied. This will make you more nervous.
• If you are feeling very tense and anxious, just before entering the examination venue, take a few deep breaths which will help you to relax.

During the exam, if you get blank after seeing difficult questions, skip them for the time being, and attempt the questions which you find easier. Once you have completed them, go back to the difficult ones. In this way, you will surely be able to answer them confidently. Time management is extremely important, so make sure that you don't waste time.

Along with the students, even parents have the responsibility to make sure that their children do not go through any kind of tension or stress during exams. Many times, children experience fear because of the pressure that parents put on them.

Although parents need to make the children understand the importance of examinations, they should not go overboard. They should not pressurize their children so much, that they are not able to study anything.

Parents must encourage children to study regularly, and instill confidence in them, so that they are able to appear for their exams confidently.