Exam anxiety is a common problem in students who are constantly overwhelmed by the fear of failure in a test or exam. These learners think they will not be able to perform well, no matter how much they prepare for the test. Exam anxiety can cause nausea & headache in the students and adversely affect their mental well-being.

To cope with this situation, most learners take assistance from tutors for academic help and personal mentorship. They must provide the right advice to the students to help them minimise and eventually eliminate the exam anxiety. We have listed the top tips that will come in handy for tutors in helping students deal with academic stress. So, let’s have a look at them in detail.

Top Ways Tutors Can Help Students Deal With Exam Anxiety

Focus on Exam Preparation in Advance

If the exam date is near and the students have not even started the preparation, it is natural for them to be overwhelmed. Tutors should familiarise themselves with the exam schedule of the learners so that they can start preparing them well in advance.

Anxiety and stress occur when the students face something for which they are unprepared. On the contrary, they stay confident if familiar with the test topics or exam syllabus. So, the tutors must ensure that they assist the students with a systematic schedule for exam preparation. It must consist of sections of the syllabus with the expected time needed to be invested in each.

It helps the learners to prepare slowly but effectively. By following a schedule, the students can easily learn one concept at a time. Consequently, they don’t have to deal with multiple topics just before the exam. Moreover, the learners stay confident during the tests rather than fearing failure.

Try To Find Out The Source of Fear

Most tutors incorporate different practices to help students deal with exam anxiety, but everything seems ineffective. The reason behind that is generalised approaches are always not suitable for dealing with personalised anxiety issues of the learners. The most effective solution to this problem is to invest efforts in finding out the source of students’ fear. Here are some of the common causes of exam fear:

  • Overwhelmed by the burden of expectations of parents and relatives.
  • Connecting personal worth and self-esteem with the test grades.
  • Insufficient preparation for the exam causing guilt.
  • Feeling helpless and believing that exam performance is something that is not controllable.

After knowing the exact cause behind exam anxiety, the tutors can use a specialised approach for effectively dealing with the problems. This way, they can make things easy for the students with the right mentorship and advice.

Tell Students To Worry Less and Prepare More

The tutors should make the students familiar with the fact that their performance in a specific exam doesn’t decide their worth. So, rather than worrying about the exam outcome, they should focus on preparation. In addition, they should make it clear to the students that it’s okay if the exam results are not as per their expectations. The main thing which matters is the participation from their side and they can’t control the outcomes.

It helps the students invest their time in studying for the test or exam rather than overthinking and worrying about it. Some learners think that poor performance in the exams will cause their parents to lose affection for them. Tutors should ensure that instead of overthinking, the learners invest that time in learning and clarifying the subject’s concepts. Moreover, they should advise the students to take regular breaks during studying and include light exercise in their routine for optimal mental and physical health.

Use Strategies To Help The Students Control Anxiety

Various practices are proven to be effective in dealing with stress and anxiety. The tutors can use them to help the learners stay away from the exam stress. For example, going out for a small walk after each study session not only refreshes the student’s minds but also re-energises them. 

Similarly, practising deep breathing and performing stretches while sitting on the study chair help release physical & mental tension and relaxes the body. By adding similar activities to their schedule, the students can effectively focus on their preparation instead of constantly getting bothered by negative thoughts.  

Familiarise The Learners With Exam Attempting Strategies

One of the reasons for the student’s poor performance in the exams is the improper way of attempting. Various strategies are there, implementing which the students can make things easy for them during a test or exams. The tutors should regularly convey these approaches to the learners so they don’t forget them during exams. 

One of the most basic things is to read the question paper before starting to answer the questions. It helps the learners make a rough estimate in their mind of how many questions they can attempt and accordingly allocate time for each. Additionally, the students should start with the questions about which they are most confident. It provides a good start to the exam or test. Last but not least, using headings and diagrams while writing the answers is also helpful in achieving good grades. For this reason, reputable Physics tutors recommend explaining their answers with the help of figures and emphasise underlining the important formulas. 

Similarly, there are multiple strategies that tutors can convey to students to help them deal with exam anxiety.

Guide The Students To Focus on The Positives

The students who are generally affected by exam anxiety are negative thinkers. They keep playing scenarios in their mind about what could possibly go wrong in the exams. What if I forgot everything in the exam? What if the topics I studied the most don’t come in the test?

Such students make the exams a big deal in their minds due to negative thinking.

The tutors should promote positive thinking in such students to help them deal with exam stress and anxiety. They can do so by regularly motivating the learners and providing them with positive affirmations. Guide the students to look at the positive side of things. For example, the learners are worried because they don’t have the preparation for a particular syllabus section. The tutors should motivate them and tell them to have faith in how much they have prepared.

Conclusion

Exam anxiety is a serious problem amongst learners. The students affected by it become blank during the exams, even if they are well-prepared. However, the tutors can help the learners cope with this problem with the help of the above-mentioned tips. As the tutors are also the students’ mentors, they should keep their mental well-being in check. When the tutors and the students make combined efforts in the right direction, the desired academic results can be achieved while eliminating exam anxiety.