Stress Buster: DR SAMIR PARIKH, the director of the mental health and behavioural science, Fortis Healthcare, Delhi, provides a few tips for students as how to deal with Exam Results when they are just around the corner.
As we approach the time of the year when exam results are knocking at the door to be declared, it is common to witness harried students pulling their hair out. While sitting for an exam itself is stressful, for most of the students the stress continues until the results are out. Here are a few points to keep in mind in case the results are not up to your expectation.
- Identify and re-focus on your strengths
Remember, you are the one who has put in all the efforts for your exam, and therefore you are the best judge of your own performance. You should be the one evaluating your own performance, and trying to improve upon your strength. Identifying the positives will help you be more optimistic towards your future.
- Avoid dwelling on the past, and seek feedback
Instead of just sitting and moping over your poor results, it is a better idea for you to seek feedback, both from parents and teachers, or even peers, in order to re-evaluate yourself, and to be able to identify areas to be worked upon. It is necessary to figure out where you have gone wrong, so that you can improve your productivity and efficiency by improving upon the weaknesses, learning from past mistakes, and start a fresh without wasting your efforts again.
- Acknowledge your mistakes
It is important to be open to constructive feedback, as it will help you gain a true insight about your capabilities. Therefore, you will have more realistic expectations from yourself.Further, you may then redirect your efforts accordingly based on the feedback that you have received.
- Re-plan your future goals
As soon as the results have been declared, it is important to use it as a feedback and focus on the steps that need to be taken next. Re-evaluate your original plan if the results did not meet your expectations, and re-plan your goals, career and future accordingly. Let go of the bygones, and work on moving ahead by forgetting the past.
- Evaluate your efforts, not your results
Remember to focus not on the final grades, but also to pay attention to the efforts that you are putting behind the exam. Even if the results do not seem to be proportionate to your efforts, do keep in mind the influence of various external factors, and therefore make a realistic evaluation of your efforts to avoid future failures.
- Don’t compare
Each one of us are different in capabilities as well as efforts.Therefore, do not fall prey to peer pressure by comparing your performance with your other friends. Instead, be objective in your approach, and validate your efforts yourself.
- Exams are not the end of life
Remember, your school exams are just one part of a lifetime. They are not the only factor that will decide your future, but are simply a stepping stone. So do not go ahead with making exam results a big deal in your life. Do not let the mere numbers dictate your life, and instead take a call on moving beyond the results and focusing on what else needs to be done for achieving goals further.
SOURCE: http://goo.gl/W5yDBG
