What is exam stress and how does it affect children?

In primary and secondary school, children's lives are filled with exams throughout the year, at the end of the year, and for high school and university entrance exams. You might think that children easily adapt to these exams with all this experience, but this isn't always the case.

The pressure to get high grades and succeed in exams significantly increases students' anxiety, and exams are experienced as a stressful experience. Stomach aches, headaches, and pains in various parts of the body are common complaints of children experiencing exam stress before and/or during exams.

Sometimes, parents are excessively stressed and project this onto their children, potentially instilling incorrect values ​​in them.

Healthy Stress and Unhealthy Stress:

Generally, a certain amount of stress before exams can actually be beneficial. For example, stress at work can motivate you to study harder. Exam stress can also motivate students to be more successful. If stress isn't created, or if it's at a very low level, it can lead to drowsiness and lack of motivation.

Too much stress can also reduce students' self-confidence. Excessive stress can cause students to become blocked and prevent them from remembering important information. It also impairs their comprehension and conclusions, leading to difficulties in problem-solving. As a result, students receive grades that don't truly reflect their hard work.

Important tips for relaxing during exam time:

If your child is nervous before exams in class, encourage them by teaching them the following tips and strategies to reduce anxiety and increase energy for the next exam.

WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE EXAM

Studying the night before the exam can be quite tiring for your child and create more stress than before, so encourage them to study gradually in the days leading up to the exam.

Have them take practice exams before the actual exam; this will reduce exam stress and provide experience related to the exam.

Ensuring your child goes to bed early and gets a good night's sleep the night before the exam will reduce their anxiety.

Support your children in resolving any disagreements before going to bed.

 

Blood sugar levels are lowest in the morning. Research shows that your child having breakfast is essential for their problem-solving skills on the exam.

Ensure your child wears comfortable clothing for the exam.

Treat your child the same way you treat any other day; show your interest in their exam but don't pressure them.

Physical activity before the exam (such as running or brisk walking) will reduce their body tension.

Going to the exam early and prepared (with pens, erasers, etc.) will prevent them from getting stressed by dealing with small details, allowing them to focus solely on the exam.

Remind them that the exam can be difficult and that not everyone can answer all the questions, that no one expects them to, and that they should remain positive. Explain that they will do their best.

 

Remind them to read the instructions carefully during the exam and to ask if they don't understand any instructions.

If the exam doesn't have a penalty of 3 wrong answers and is multiple-choice, suggest they try to guess the answers as much as possible, rather than leaving any questions blank.

WHAT SHOULD THEY DO DURING THE EXAM?

Reviewing the exam will prevent them from being affected by unexpected surprises. It will also help them manage their time effectively and avoid spending too much time on a single question.

Having your child take small notes before the exam will help them remember important points and key information during the exam.

Some students get so nervous during exams that they skip the exam instructions, so reading the instructions very carefully will affect their success.

Prioritizing easy questions will allow them to focus their time and energy on more difficult questions.

 

If they answer difficult questions using words they can understand and without changing the meaning of the question, this can help them understand the problem more easily.

If your child plans their answers to multiple-choice and explanatory questions in their head, they will be more confident when answering the questions.

Negative thoughts that come to mind during the exam destroy your child's self-confidence; negative thoughts such as "I can't pass this exam" should be replaced with positive thoughts such as "I prepared very well for this exam and I will get a good grade."

If your child feels uneasy during the exam, they can try the following relaxation techniques:

Taking deep breaths and reducing tension with each exhale,

Tense and relax their muscles for 5 seconds and repeat this 3 times,

With their eyes closed, imagining themselves in a relaxed, happy and peaceful environment.

Like feeling…

WHAT TO DO AFTER THE EXAM?

After the exam, talk to your child about the exam and let them know you understand how much effort they put into it.

Talk about the difficult and easy exam questions, and also what they learned from the exam.

Ask your child what they would change if they had to retake the exam.

Explain to your child that you don't love them based on their performance on the exam, but that you love them simply because they are your child.

How do attention deficit, hyperactivity, and lack of concentration affect school life? Do these problems worsen during exam time?

For us to learn academic information, our attention and concentration levels must be normal. Information is filtered and encoded in various regions of the brain in connection with attention and concentration centers. Learning disabilities are a decrease or complete absence of the ability of individuals to understand and comprehend information they see or to connect information they hear to different parts of the brain. One of the conditions causing this situation is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Impulse Control Disorder, and another is General Learning Disability.

In some children, the brain's motivation center and attention center, which are essential for academic success, do not function properly, and families persistently pressure these children to "study." Some children's attention, concentration, motivation, and self-confidence may decrease under exam stress.

In these children, an increase in alpha and/or theta brainwaves has been observed, greater than in their age group.

 

If the above methods are unsuccessful in helping children with exam phobia overcome their fears, it may be beneficial to investigate whether there is an electrical imbalance in the brain's areas related to fear.

Children who benefit from a method called neurofeedback (EEG Biofeedback), which reduces the increase in Alpha and Theta waves and allows these areas to function better, have shown improvements in attention, concentration, motivation to study, mathematical achievement, self-expression, decreased exam stress and anxiety, and a significant increase in self-confidence.

EEG biofeedback is a learning strategy and a brain exercise that works by teaching people to change their own brain electrical waves. The EEG biofeedback system is a very safe method that is painless, has no side effects, and does not involve implanting anything into the brain. Best of all, its effects are generally permanent.