Exam stress | What do Parents and Children do?
April 20, 2021Good grades and enrollment in reputable educational institutions make
children sick internally
Like most girls, 14-year-old Amna also dreamed of becoming a doctor.
Several days later, when she went to visit her house, she weighed several
kilos, her face was downcast and her eyes were feeling lifeless.
Her mother said that Amna had worsened her condition by reading the
board papers day and night.
As the paper ran out, his condition was such that everyone had been cut
off, and after the paper ran out, he was afraid of the consequences, lest the
‘nose of friends’ be cut, as well as the fear that the number would be cut. If
I come less, I will not be able to become a doctor. It is not just a matter of
one girl but millions of children are constantly under stress due to the
educational environment and unreasonable expectations.
Due to good marks, grades, and admission to famous educational
institutions, they get sick internally, then the same weakness is later
suffered by the children in the form of various physical ailments. If your
children are also in this situation, then this is the right time for you to
immediately work to protect them from future mental and physical illnesses.
Symptoms of Exam stress
If some or all of these symptoms persist for a long time, it means your
child may be experiencing test stress:
- To be very upset
- Feeling stressed
- Headache and muscle aches
- Don’t look right
- Irritability
- Eating too little or too much
- Don’t even enjoy your favorite activities
- Feeling negative and low energy mood
- Disappointment with the future
Reasons for exam stress
There can be various reasons for this such as:
- Poor lifestyle affects the health of the child such as not getting
proper rest, poor diet, lack of physical activity.
- Not making proper use of time for exams (time management) such as not
making a study schedule in advance or not following the set schedule.
- Getting into the habit of delaying tasks.
- Reading constantly at night.
- Memory problem and not making proper notes.
- Psychological problems such as irrational thinking (that I can’t
possibly have), negative thinking and personal criticism, etc.
Whatever the reason, parents and children can not only overcome the
stress of exams together but also pass the exams with good marks.
What should parents do?
As a parent, encourage your child to talk about this stress in the
educational institution.
If the child is unable to do this, talk to the school staff yourself,
and try to do a few other things carefully:
1- Attention to food
- A balanced diet is a very basic need of a child, especially during
exams or mental activities.
- Too much fat, sweets, and caffeinated foods and beverages such as
energy drinks, sodas, sweets, chocolates, burgers, and chips make children
irritable, moody, and hyperactive.
- Wherever possible, involve your child in food and educate them about
‘healthy’ and ‘harmful’ foods.
2- Focus on sleep
- Good sleep enhances both thinking and attention, teenagers need 8 to 10
hours of sleep.
- Make it a routine for your child to stop reading, using the TV or
computer at least half an hour before going to bed so that he does not have
trouble sleeping.
- Waking up to study on the night of the exam increases stress, and urges
the child to complete all preparations before nightfall.
3- Flexible behavior during exams
- Be flexible during exams, no need to worry about incomplete household
chores or cluttered rooms when the child is studying all day.
- If you stay calm, your child will stay calm too. Remember, exams will
not last forever.
4- Study help
- Give your child a quiet place or room to study during exams and keep
lovingly asking how you can help him/her with revision.
- Motivate them about their future goals and link their studies and exams
to those goals.
5- Encourage physical activity during exams
- Exercise is a great way to boost children’s energy levels, clear their
minds and relieve stress.
- It can be a walk, cycling, swimming, football, etc., especially sports
in which more than one member is playing are especially helpful.
6- Have fun
- Have fun with your child repeating well or passing exams.
- It doesn’t have to be expensive entertainment, cooking their favorite
food or watching their favorite program together can help calm children’s
nerves.
What should children do?
Here are some tips to help you stay strong during exams:
1- Make a schedule
- Creating a regular study schedule and writing down the basics of
reading daily always keeps the student ready for the exam and the reading of
the syllabus and books ends prematurely.
- Take breaks from time to time during this schedule to maintain a
healthy energy level.
2- Make time and study priorities
- Making time, subjects, and lesson priorities help you to control stress
because it allows you to read, understand, and memorize important and difficult
lessons first.
- The timetable is constantly reminding you of how much time you have
left to study and when the repetition time will begin.
3- Distance from social media
- Nowadays, the use of social media, mobile, etc. has become very popular
among children above 10 years of age.
- Staying away from them during exams is a difficult decision but it is
wonderful for your reading and attention and for reducing stress.
- Watching social media during exams is one of the main reasons for
‘preparation delay’.
4- Peace of mind activities
- Better exam preparation and results, as well as calming the mind and
concentrating activities, are very helpful in relieving the stress associated
with it.
- The most important of these is the habit of taking deep breaths, make
it a habit to take deep breaths in the morning and evening on an empty stomach.
5- Set practical goals
- One of the most stressful things you can do is set an ‘unrealistic
goal’. If you don’t study all year, you won’t get very high marks in a month’s
crash course.
- If you set a realistic goal according to your preparation before the
exam, then your mind will automatically stay in a ‘calm state’ and this state
will increase your performance.
6- Self-confidence
- Last but not least, the most important thing is to have ‘complete
self-confidence’, if you encounter any difficulty in any subject or lesson,
think positively about yourself and say positively, ‘Yes … I find this
difficult. I will cross.
- With good preparation, keep replacing every negative thought with a
positive one until you pass the exam.