Are  your anxious about the upcoming  exams, even though  you’re quite well prepared  for this annual event? COLIN  SAVIO COELHO helps alleviate your  fears 

Fear of exams is a common happening around this time of the year.  Though fear per se is an unwanted emotion at this important time, a reasonable degree of nervousness can be of great benefit to help you perform at your optimum potential.

Nervousness or Anxiety
The thought is always in the mind.  Exams are around the corner. The unnecessary anxiety can crop up due to various reasons.  Daniel was unwell for about a month.  He was a good student but could not really cope up with what he had missed out on. His teacher tried to put him at ease, “Daniel, you can do this.  We will all help you.”  But the thoughts about being a failure for the first time in his life overcame him.  “I will have to miss my friends, he lamented.  This became a source of anxiety for the boy. The fear of exams now cropped up slowly but surely.

Trouble preparing for D-Day
Daniel’s preparations for the examinations took a hit because the thoughts of being a failure kept jumping up.  He was in great trouble concentrating on his studies.  This even got his parents worried. 

What was happening is that Daniel was not able to prioritize his works.  Worry and fear had enveloped his whole being.  He could not put his mind to his studies and he was spending more time in useless thought about being a ‘failure’ rather than looking at the positive aspects of it.  His teachers had offered him all the help he needed.  Suddenly this occurred to him, “I am sure all understand me and are willing to help me.  So what am I worried about?”  A positive Daniel than began to get more organized and saw to it that he devoted a little more time to studies instead of unnecessary thoughts.

Many young children also have a problem about pushing themselves too hard only to study.  With books and only books being part of their lives (especially in the X and XII class), they are faced with problems in preparing for exams because they are overworked.  They have very little leisure time and this can affect performance.

Blank-out at the Examination
Carol had prepared well throughout the year for her examination.  She always aimed high.  But when she got to the X class, she was faced by a few tense moments when she thought about the first public exams of her life.  “You can’t fool around this year,” he aunt told her.  She kept hearing of this so often she developed a certain fear.  Every party she went, every house she visited with her parents or every relative she met only reminded her of her ‘board exams’.  The stress gave rise to fear.    Carol started finding it very difficult to recall material she studied even though she had prepared pretty well for the examination.

The inevitable happened.  She blanked-out during one of the exams.  She tensed up and got very nervous.  Finally, she took a breather and just closed her eyes a while and put out the negative emotions.  This helped Carol do well in the end, but with anxiety looming large all the time.

Anxiety Shows
The very mention of the word exams puts many students into a fear mode.  They suddenly experience a quickening heartbeat or they start perspiring profusely and even experience stomach aches.  This can happen at any time, even months before the actual examination time.  Many react with some defensive solutions to these situations.  “I don’t think this I can manage the exams this time,” thought Laila.  The solution for her was, “I will drop the exams this time and attempt them in October!” 

The Perfectionist in You
Perfectionism can be a great cause for being anxious about examinations.  Many students sometimes, due to parental pressure or even otherwise, set very high demands for themselves.  Sometimes these are near impossible.  Then there is always the risk of being a failure staring at you even more intently.  Anxiety then shoots up to an all-time high.  Faring well in the examination depends on a whole lot of factors.  This would include the expectations you have about yourself, how you look at others and what others expect of you.  Usually behind the guise of perfectionism there is a profound lack of self-esteem and dangerously low levels of self-confidence.

Personal Issues
Sometimes there can be many personal problems that crop up and these can affect your preparations for your exams.  Hemant was in for a shock when he came home from school one day.  His father was home and informed the family, “I think I am out of my job.  My company has laid-off several employees this month and I am one of them.” 

Hemant gauged the mood at home.  It was grave and somber.  His loving parents were suddenly sullen most of the time.  No one spoke much and the atmosphere was very sad.  Naturally this affected Hemant’s preparation and examination. He had prepared extensively all through the year, but just could not put his mind into the examinations after his father’s misfortune.  Then he thought to himself, “I need to do well here.  This is a very crucial year for me.”  That inner calm came in and he did manage to calm his nerves a bit.  Enough to do reasonably well in the end.  Sometimes it is not our effort that is lacking.  Other circumstances also crop in to challenge our examination schedule.  But staying calm can take us a long way.

Exams evaluate your skills and test you about your understanding of what you are studying. They encourage you to prepare well in advance.  Questions papers cover a whole load of topics and are challenging because you don’t know what you will be tested on.  They oblige you to be explicit and alert, as you have to prove yourself in the limited time available.

Fear of examinations are best put away with some advanced preparations and a calm approach.  Even problems that could crop up at the end, that are not really controllable, are not really a bother if your approaches to examinations are the right ones.