STRESS ON STRESS By: Rafi Shah In todays world exams are an unfortunate necessity and they are determinant

to measure one's efficacy, otency, s!ill, "uality etc# It is a human instinct to ha$e a lots of ressure while wal!in% on the way to success# In articular, those students who ha$e ne$er &een sensiti'ed to any &rea!throu%h exams &efore, stress and exam fe$er are $ery common and of %reat concern# These ha$e resulted di$ersified mentality, ina&ility to in oint focus, faded confidence etc# there&y roducin% low erformance #This article can't ma!e the exams %o away, it will ho efully hel you to deal with some of the stress that you mi%ht &e feelin% and that in turn will allow you to focus on your exams# (hat is exam stress) Stress is natural art of &ein% human# It's your &ody res ondin% to chan%es in the world around you# It chan%es how your &ody wor!s and uts your mind into different moods# (hen you're %ettin% stressed a&out an exam * it +ust means that you really care the result you will %et a %ood result# But it can &e &ad if you %et too worried and the effects of the stress sto you doin% well# when exams %et too much, the stress can show in your &ody# That can &e a %ood thin% if it ushes you into wor!in% extra hard as you try to %et a %ood result# ,ow to s ot if you're stressed -ou could &e showin% si%ns of stress if you're : . feelin% tired . ache all o$er . cry and feel sad . ha$e anic attac!s . ha$e &ro!en slee . suffer from stomach u set . ha$e itchy s!in rashes . more li!ely to %et colds and flu /e$elo in% a ositi$e mindset It's human nature to &e ne%ati$e sometimes, &ut de$elo in% a ositi$e mental attitude will hel you do your &est# 0 icture yourself %ettin% a &i% fat 1 and $isuali'e this o$er and o$er in $i$id details# If you maintain a ositi$e ,' I 21N /O IT' attitude &uildin% u to your exams, your stress will &e transformed into ositi$e ener%y that can &e harnessed to enhance your erformance# 0 $iew the exam as a time &ound and tar%et oriented ro+ect of 34 days# 5oo! forward to the fun and challen%e in store on com letion# 0 it's only an exam6 you are not %oin% to die# -our family will not %et !idna ed or tortured if you fail# 1nd there is always a resit6 0 an exam is sim ly an o ortunity to show what you !now# 0 exams are desi%ned to ,E57 you and ro$ide your tutors8teachers with feed&ac! so that they can hel you further#

0 you will &e +ust the same erson &efore and after the exam# Exams do not measure anythin% really im ortant a&out you# 0 you ha$e had a num&er of successes already and ha$e actually assed many exams* hold on to that# 9ocus on the ositi$e as ects of the ast rather than ne%ati$e ones, as this will s ur you on to earn many more successes# Sto in% ne%ati$e thou%hts (hen we &ecome anxious we &e%in to ha$e ne%ati$e thou%hts 'I 21N'T 1NS(ER 1N-T,IN:, I'; :OIN: TO 71NI2' etc# If this is ha enin% , halt the s iralin% thou%hts &y mentally shoutin% STO7# Or icture a road STO7 si%n, or traffic li%hts on red# Once you ha$e literally sto ed the thou%hts, you can continue lannin% , or ractice a relaxation techni"ue# <se a mantra /eri$ed from meditation, a mantra is a word or hrase which you re eat to yourself# Sayin% somethin% li!e the name of 1lmi%hty or relax under your &reath or in your head o$er and o$er can hel defuse anxiety# 9ocus 5oo!in% out of the window, noticin% the num&er of eo le with red hair, countin% the num&er of des!s in each row##all hel to distract your attention from anxious thou%hts and !ee your minds &usy# ;ental %ames such as ma!in% words out of another word or title, usin% al ha&etical lists etc# are all forms of distraction# Brid%in% O&+ects It can hel to carry or wear somethin% with ositi$e association with another erson or lace# Touchin% this &rid%in% o&+ect can &e comfortin% in its own ri%ht, then allow yourself a few minutes to thin! a&out the erson or situation which ma!es you feel %ood# This can ha$e a really calmin% effect# Self* tal! In exam anxiety or anic we often %i$e oursel$es ne%ati$e messa%es, ' I can't do this' ' i'm %oin% to fail' 'l'm useless'# Try to conciously re lace these with ositi$e, encoura%in% thou%hts: ' this is +ust anxiety , it can't harm me', ' relax , concentrate, it's %oin% to &e O='# 'I'm %ettin% there ,nearly o$er'# 1 few ti s 1 %ood way to minimise the amount of stress that you are feelin% is to create a re$ision timeta&le# This way you can &e made sure that you ha$e lenty of time to re$ise all the su&+ects that you need to do# ,a$in% a re$ision timeta&le will also %i$e you the chance to &uild in rest &rea! and time to s end relaxin%# This will hel you to stay calmer# If you find urself sittin% and %ettin% more and more stressed you need to ta!e a &rea!, %o for a

wal! or ta!e an hour to watch some tele$ision, do somethin% to ta!e your mind off your stress#