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Tension before exam dates is a common condition noticed in students. However, doctors and psychiatrists believe there are ways to keep this fear away.

Children often get worried on the night before an examination day. Normal stress levels are natural for any student. Even adults feel nervous before an important interview date. But there are many students over the world who exhibit symptoms that are sometimes a bit more serious than normal examination tension. Psychiatrists and physicians get such complains from a lot of students these days:

Symptoms of Exam Fever

Students face examination stress in many ways. Stress of this kind is mostly mental and emotional. However, sometimes exam stress can also manifest itself through some physical symptoms.

Students often feel that their heart beats faster on the night before the examination day. Headaches, cramps etc. are other common occurrences that are noticed among pupils. Students who face excessive bouts of nervousness often face physical conditions that are worse.
“pre-exam nerves” are often in a very edgy condition. The extra stress that one experiences during this phase often leads to intense physical disorders. The site has identified the following as common physical symptoms noticed before an examination day:

•Lack of sleep

•Frequent headaches

•General tension and irritability

•Giddiness

Techniques to Handle Exam Stress

Most doctors and psychiatrists over the world believe that examination stress and tension can be handled effectively by practicing very simple routines before exams. The practical solution for handling exam stress is to plan a study time-table in advance. This prevents pre-exam jitters.

Also, one must focus on the chapters and areas about which one is not too confident. At times, students tend to become needlessly hyper just before exams. This situation has been identified by reputed educational institutes as well.

For instance, the Imperial College Healthcentre believes that students often suffer from some “Common Thinking Errors” while facing examinations. This leads to a loss of confidence among students in many educational institutes. They tend to consider themselves incapable of performing or scoring good marks in an examination.

According to them, in order to avoid such conditions, students should learn to “face their fears.” It is also necessary to understand the source of one’s anxiety. At times, pupils tend to exaggerated a minute setback and set it as a landmark for the rest of their exam papers. This is a wrong approach. Psychiatrists believe that a difficult subject should be broken into little bits. They should be handled part by part.

For extreme physical conditions caused by too much stress, one should practice some relaxation techniques on a daily basis. According to Dr. Gill Jenkins , “simple muscle tensing and relaxing methods” help students to tackle examination stress to a large extent. Light breathing exercises also help to calm one's nervous system during examinations.

Examinations are a major stress factor among many students. However, one should not let it turn into a phobia. Hence, it is necessary to get proper aid from proper sources to regain once confidence while facing exams.