What is Exam Phobia?
Exams are conducted to assess one’s knowledge, skills, competency, thinking power. It is an integral part of our life. So basically, it is conducted at every stage, right from the junior education until we are placed to a good company. The level of competition is also increasing day by day which is becoming the major reason for tension for most of the students. But this tension and anxiety will help you to ace the exam and succeed in the future. But only if it is limited to the line, once it crosses the line it becomes dangerous and can result in exam phobia, also called exam fever.
Every human faces some or the other kind of anxiety or phobia in their life. One such phobia can be exam phobia. Students become anxious, disturbed, tensed, sad, and angry too. It is considered a mental disorder. It means disturbance to the functioning of the mind. This may even affect the physical health of a child. It can affect the child during exams, before exams, and even after exams. It can also affect the performance in the exam.
Many believe that a child scores fewer marks due the under-preparedness. But that is absolutely wrong, it is not always true. For instance, a child fears math. He/she may get tensed before the exam. Furthermore, it hampers the preparation as well. Even if they want, they cannot understand the concept because of fear.
In most of the cases, student fears that they will forget the answers during the exam or they might not be able to write what they have studied. Many students decide not to appear in the exam. They feel that avoiding exams is better than failing. The reason can be fear of parents and even shame among the mates.
Common experiences in students due to Exam Phobia
- They avoid appearing in the exam
- They get a fever before the exam
- Sometimes, they avoid interacting with their friends and family.
- They become short-tempered
- When it goes to an extreme level, it can lead to depression or suicidal activities too.
- They feel demotivated and inferior that they cannot achieve anything in their life.
There can be many worst consequences of this, to avoid such consequences, every parent must support and understand their child. Love and support can solve any problem. Parents must understand that every child is different from each other. If one child is good in studies then the other one can be better in sports or any other field.
Role of Parents and Teachers
No parents should force their child to score good marks. Instead, motivate them, have faith in them. Motivate them that they can do it, nothing is difficult. Show them love and affection, take care of them during exams and support them.
Do not scold them or beat them if they score less or fail. There must be reasons that they scored less. Understand the situation and then take appropriate action. Love and support can solve any issue. Furthermore, it helps to deal with any fear or phobia.
Adding to the above point, teachers also play an important role in a student’s life. A teacher understands a child much better than anyone else. They teach them so they know what a child can do and in which field or subject he is good in. Teachers must support the child instead of giving warnings and complaining to the parents.
Teachers must try to talk to the child personally that what could be the reason for scoring less or any other problem which hampers his/her performance. No one can understand a child better than a teacher when it comes to academics. They must discuss the issue, motivate them.
Moreover, they should clear the concept and must discuss the subject which could be the reason for bad performance in the exam. Talk to them politely, or sometimes talk to them about their personal life because this creates a level of belongingness, understanding, and trust between the student and the teacher.
How to overcome Exam Phobia
First of all, every child must believe that there is nothing in this world that cannot be solved.
Let us discuss ways to overcome this fear of exams-
Have faith in yourself
The most important thing in human life is to have faith in ourselves. See, no one can solve any issue or problem if you do not believe in yourself. If you cannot believe in yourself then how can you expect the other person to believe you? The first and foremost thing is to have faith in yourself. You can do it. You can fly with beautiful colors once you believe in yourself. Start believing in yourself and then see the changes. Just keep reminding yourself that “If others can do it even I can do it”.
- Stay confident
It is very important to stay confident. Remind yourself of the good things that you have done or remind yourself of your other talents. Now the question is how to build confidence for exams. The key to gain confidence for examination is preparation. Preparation matters a lot. When you are prepared, you automatically get confidence. You will lose the fear.
Right preparation
Right preparation means the way you are preparing for your exams. Different students have different ways of preparing for the exams. They have their own strategies, level of understanding, timetable. Some students are good in academics and some are weak. So, it’s up to you to choose the category you want to fall under.
If you are weak, you will require more attention and more hard work. If you are not able to understand a subject, then find a teacher to teach you the concept. Nowadays, technology is so updated, utilize it. Watch videos on youtube and understand the concept. Join online apps for learning. We must do smart study.
Right Timetable/schedule
Following the right timetable is very important. You must follow a strict and smooth timetable. Which is not hectic and difficult to follow. Prepare your own timetable with the duties and routine you follow each day.
Just have a glance at this timetable and get an idea, then prepare your own timetable.
- Get up at 6 or according to your school/college timing.
- Once you get up drink lukewarm water with lemon, which will remove all the toxicity from the body.
- Do five minutes meditation, which will help you to cope up with stress
- Then follow your daily routine
- After coming from the institution, take a rest or sleep.
- Wake up go for running
- Then study, make your strategies, and study
- Sleep before 11 P.M
- Talk to your parents
Talk to your parents about the problem you are facing, they will surely help you. Or else if you are comfortable, talk with your friends. Communication is very important to solve an issue. If you will not communicate then how will others understand your problem?
Maintain a good relationship with teachers
Having good relation with the teachers can help you to tackle such stress. Talk to your teacher, tell them you can understand, they will surely understand you and also they will help you to understand better.
Find another alternative to learn
If you are not able to understand the concept of a subject taught by your teacher, then choose another alternative to study. For instance, it can be YouTube videos or any other educational site.
Prepare neat and colorful notes
Yes, making colorful and neat notes gives you an urge to study and also helps you to understand a concept even more.
Ask your friends for help
A Friend can help you in many ways. Talk to them, ask them for help. Try to get help from them for your examination. You will surely understand the topic.
Prepare a goal sheet
A goal sheet is a sheet in which you mention all the topics and chapters you want to finish in a day. Make a realistic goal sheet and follow it strictly. Allocate more time to difficult topics and subjects.
Prepare a strategy and set a goal
Preparing a strategy is very important, plan out the topics or a chapter to complete in a day. Allocate an ample amount of time to a difficult topic. Learn from varieties of videos, if you are not able to understand from one. Allocate time to topics and chapters to complete in a day. Once you complete it mark a tick on the goal sheet. Your confidence will boost when you achieve the goal.
Practice
Try to solve many sample papers. Firstly, make a timetable to plan out your study routine. Once you complete the entire syllabus as planned, solve question papers. Practice examples sums or questions. Solve previous year’s question papers. Once you start solving these papers you will gain confidence. Moreover, you will build up interest in that subject.
Take initiative
Taking tensions and not taking any action is the worst thing to do. Do not take too much tension of exams. This will lower your confidence. It will kill your appetite to study. The next thing you will do is regret not studying anything. So better take an initiative. It is never too late to start a good thing. Start your preparation. Once you are regular and following your study routine strictly, it will make you much better in that subject. At least, you will gain some amount of confidence and understanding in that subject.
Take rest
Do not burden yourself. Give time to yourself. Listen to music. Take a break in between. When you study continuously without taking any break, it kills your interest and your consistency too. Take a break in between to maintain your interest. Too much is too bad. Breaks will help you to boost up your mood. It will refresh you.
Stay consistent
Once you make a goal sheet, follow it every day. Do not take longer gaps. Once you take longer gaps, it kills your interest. You will forget the previous topics which you have learned.
Tips to prepare for the exams
Firstly, try your best to understand and learn a particular subject or topic from the teacher. If you still did not understand the concept.
Then follow these steps:-
- Watch videos from youtube. There are varieties of videos on a particular topic. Explore those videos. Learn from it. Watch it with full concentration
- Once you start watching the videos, make running notes.
- Use highlighters, different color pens to make these notes because it will help you to gain more interest to study and when you read it during your examination, you will understand it much better.
- Running notes must consist of every detail you find important.
- After learning from the video and after preparing the running notes. Open your textbook or the guide you are following.
- Once you open the book, read the topics and try to understand them, and recap whatever you have learned from the videos.
- Sit with your running notes, when you are reading the book, understand the concept and then go through the running notes. It will help you to understand the concept even more.
- If there are diagrams or figures, then
- Practice those diagrams, maps, etc.
- Try to write whatever you have learned from the topic.
- If there are sums, then solve as many sums as possible.
- For sums, first, solve examples. Once you solve the examples, you will get an idea of the questions.
- Never ignore examples. It will help you to solve any kind of sums more easily.
- Once you have understood everything with the above-mentioned procedure, try to solve question papers.
- Solving question papers will give you ideas of a pattern of questions and it will also help you to manage time and to gain confidence.
Lastly, do not worry. You can do it. Anybody can do it. Just have a proper plan. You must have proper direction and guidance to fetch good things. Believe in yourself. Nothing is difficult. Just practice it and you will surely ace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ques. What is exam phobia?
Ans. Exam phobia is a fear of exams. It is a mental disorder, where a student fears that whether he will be able to pass the exam or not.
Ques. What exactly happens in exam phobia?
Ans. In exam phobia, a person starts getting anxious that whether he will be able to pass the exam or not. He/she fears that what if he/she forgets the answers during the exam or whether he will be able to write what he/she had studied.
Ques. Is there any way to overcome exam phobia?
Ans. Yes, there are many ways. For instance, make a timetable, follow it strictly, take a break in between, believe in yourself, maintain a good relationship with your teacher.
Ques. Is it difficult to score good marks?
Ans. No, nothing is difficult. We just have to make up our minds that we can do it. Set goals and follow a proper direction to achieve the goal.
Ques. Why am I not able to understand a subject?
Ans. The possible reason can be fear, fear of the subject. To overcome the fear, start studying that subject. Take small steps in the beginning. Learn only one topic in a day. Once you start gaining interest, speed up.
Ques. How can I gain confidence?
Ans. In order to gain confidence, you must be well prepared with the syllabus. If you have enough practice. You will surely gain confidence. Go out of the box, do not limit yourself with books.
Ques. How can I succeed in the future?
Ans. Work hard in the silence and let the success make noise. Work hard right from now. Follow a good track. Do not distract yourself. Go out of the box. Learn varieties of things. Communicate well. Do not limit yourself. Experience practical things.
Ques. Why do we face exam phobia?
Ans. Our parents expectations and pressure makes us worried and this worry results in exam Phobia. We start developing the fear of scoring good and whether we will be able to fulfill their expectations or not.