Pahoti’s solution to student anxiety

Pahoti ( पहोति) did a series of sessions with 25 students between age group 11-20 yrs from a non profit Manzil Welfare Society regarding attitudes and concerns towards school exams. Thanks to Purnima Sarkar for organising it. Psychologist Asmita Nagpal led the session and asked these students about what their major stressors or pain points were when it came to exams. The idea behind the session (the first in the series) was multiple- 1. To raise hashtag#awareness about the nature of stress one feels during exams, 2. To gather inputs from students about what their hashtag#painpoints were to understand how we could help as a well-being provider 3. To educate students about how their thoughts, feelings and behaviors get affected and how they can be changed to feel better by providing various mindfulness and hashtag#stressmanagement techniques Student concerns can be seen in the word cloud above. With words like “money” (will get wasted) and “मार पड़ेगी” (will get beaten) also in the mix, pointing to concerns around what will happen if they fail, it was a big revelation as to how multifaceted, massive and universal the problem is. While most students mentioned they were stressed, only 5% said they had a feeling of excitement during exams. Check out Manzil’s great effort here- https://lnkd.in/g3jKVpYR. Below are the perceived students’ concerns during exam preparation as discussed with multiple organizations and tuition centers helping students prepare for IIT-JEE-

• Perceived student concerns from discussions:

1. 1. Given the extremely competitive nature of entrance examinations, the stress and pressure to prepare well and clear the exam is high. This is coupled with the need to manage school based curriculum alongside. 
   2. The jump from grade X to XI is significant, and the task of entrance preparation/ attending coaching classes is a massive addition. Hence, the challenge increases to a level which perhaps the students find very difficult to adjust to.
   3. Time Management: Balancing coaching and school, personal life and social commitments is challenging
   4. Students’ relationship with parents– type of interaction, motivation, pressures – are these factors affecting their morale? (Judgment, micromanagement, telling students how to prepare). The role parents should/can play in this scenario remains unclear.
   5. There seems to be a lack of expression or low self confidence when it comes to clearing doubts from teachers and sharing struggles. The cause of this hesitation is unclear but perhaps stems from negative self evaluation at the students end (“this is a silly question”/ “I should know this, this is not something one needs to ask!”). This also points towards unhelpful thinking patterns and exaggerates low self esteem.
   6. Lack of motivation
   7. Lack of failure resilience (how to prepare if you fail?)
   8. Concentration issues due to personal awareness levels, too many tasks, stress and managing people’s expectations.

• Proposed solutions: Way forward 

1. A small focussed group discussion with the students to understand better  their narrative, challenges, stresses and their perception of success and failure
2. An online assessment to gather the larger student group sentiment 
3. A Peer Support system: Online forum to fill in the gap of asking teachers everything as well as gaining motivation by being in touch with students with similar goals and struggles (for example, students may discuss their problems with each other first, solve some on their own and then due to the peer support, have confidence/courage to ask teachers/LC about their challenges)
4. Individual psychological support with students experiencing extreme stress/ self doubt due to academic pressure. This aims to target:

• • Identifying negative core beliefs and cycle of self-defeating thoughts
  • examining factors leading to low self confidence, motivation and performance and addressing them
  • achievable routine scheduling

   5. Providing an online course (customizing the course on EXAM ANXIETY as per students’ needs and requirements). Currently, the following modules from the course can be beneficial to the students:

• Identifying anxiety
• Core beliefs and cognitive distortions- (to help resolve hesitation, failure and self judgment)
• Healthy coping techniques & relaxation strategies- (stress management, resilience)
• Concentration improvement techniques
• Time management techniques
• Effective study techniques
• Perhaps adding a module on SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goal setting aids the students in setting expectations in a realistic manner and achieving desired results.

   6. Creating a supportive environment: A session with parents / teachers to help them understand their colossal role in uplifting student motivation and setting realistic expectations.