EXAM STRESS ON STUDENTS Submitted by: Neeti Subedi Class:11 Section: P'1' Submitted to: Suresh Bhatta Subject: English Exam Stress on Students Introduction The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. – William James Stress is the feeling of being overwhelmed or unable to cope with mental or emotional pressure. Exam stress is a mental pressure or tension for students that comes from test taking situations. Examination stress among college students has been a topic of interest for many years College students experience high stress due to various reasons such as lack of preparation, style of their study and lack of needed information. A little stress around exam time can be a good thing, as it motivates you to put in the work. When stress is perceived negatively or becomes excessive, it leads to anxiety before and during exams and ultimately affects their academic achievement. Every time we hear about students committing suicide, we assume failure in some exams to be the cause. Students preparing for exams often feel under pressure. The pressure may result in feeling of anxiety or nervousness, and this exam can interfere with the individual daily life while a certain amount of stress may be beneficial, too much exam stress can cause individuals to perform poorly on test that means a lot to them. Objective Student life is a crucial part of a human life and this is the time to flourish ourselves, this is the time that we put in our works, this phase defines path of our life, this is a gateway to building our career and shape our life and all these depends on our academic performances. Academic life is very stressful and students are always on pressure especially during exams. Many students feel pressured because of the expectations of family members or teacher They want to do their best 1 work so they don’t let anyone down with their performance. This pressure to do well can heighten exam stress. Competition with other brilliant students develops anxiety and many students at present are victim of anxiety attacks. Sadly, this topic is often ignored, all these years of studying and learning but students were never taught to love themselves. The main objective of this report writing is make students aware that you all are not alone, we understand you withstand a great pressure during exam but exams are not always everything, taking massive stress may greatly influence your mental health and psychological effects are seen. Students develop anxiety, panic attacks, low self-esteem self-harming and suicidal thoughts but health is most important and exam stress shouldn’t allow to get to you and harm you. Methodology The direct investigation of the examination site concluded that many students were facing trauma after taking their exam and stressing over it, bursting out of tears and being depressed. After interviewing few of my classmates concluded they have developed fear from exam they are traumatized and some have even started their preparation for reexam as they have failed the exam. This help concludes my report that exam stress is an issue and students take a huge pressure during exams interfering their forthcoming day to day activity. Solution In the world full of competition and exams we forget to find happiness. There is a saying “Comparison is thief of joy”. To get over this pressure never compare yourself to other. You are the best version of yourself. “Life is a competition and competition kills the joy of your achievement, Live life as experience”. Stress less and enjoy more, this will ultimately help to overcome anxiety and panic attacks and suicidal thoughts. To deal with exam stress, if the stress gets to a point where it is overwhelming and is affecting your day to day life, try speak to someone about it but not everyone is comfortable and as we live a judgmental society who takes mental health as joke students back off 2 themselves from being open about their mental health. If so then open up to a family member or a friend about the pressure you feel. You’ll be amazed to know that you aren’t alone feeling like this. Findings According to an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average, nearly 47 % of students in Australia reported moderate to extreme levels of stress during exams even when they prepared for it, compared to an international average of 37 %. (Pascoe, M, 2018). Therefore, it leads to major dropouts, mental illness and suicide attempts among students. According to the survey conducted among 13,500 students in 700 schools by the Australian council for educational research (ACER) and Michael Bernard, Melbourne university, psychologist, a drop from 76% to 59 % reported in school students who felt confident to perform at school. It also showed that mental health of Australian students became significantly worse when compared to that of 15 years ago. A survey conducted on school students revealed startling figures of stress among adolescents. It shows that a month before the examination, just 13% of students have high stress level but before a week's time of examination, 82.2% of students have high stress level. The investigators, all government doctors, mentioned in the study 'Assessment of Examination Stress in Adolescents and its Association with Heart Rate Variability' published in National Journal of Integrated Research in Medicine that stress is a major cause of suicide among students. The survey showed that examination stress is not only affecting mind but also causing heart beat variations which is dangerous. 3 Conclusion Exam stresses are crucial but we must understand the fact that examination are the assessment process for your academic performance. There is no gain without pain. We all must put our heart and soul while studying but not pressure. A whole new world is waiting for you after you complete your academic and surely no one wants to make it hard-hitting. Today's hard work is tomorrow's result and your action are your result. Therefore, we must take exam seriously not as a stress and burden. Remember that mental health is the upmost priority and don’t let anything get into the way of your peace and happiness and exams are part of human life take it easy and unruffled you'll get pass with the flow but never stop grinding and stressing is the least thing we want to do. Take exam as a fun task, exams aren’t competition it's about analyzing your ability and capability so no one is superior or inferior. Therefore, your life is precious don’t waste in stressing on exams. 4