Just Jie Yang now.

Parents provide least relief from exam stress: survey By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 28 August 2006 1909 hrs

SINGAPORE : Parents provide the least protection for students against examination stress, according to a survey of some 1,600 students in 12 schools. Social workers who conducted the study also found that students felt less pressured in a supportive school environment. Pressure to do well during exams stresses out students the most, and what makes it worse are over-zealous parents. Students ranked parents the least capable of providing relief; schools and teachers, on the other hand, got top spot for taking the load off students’ minds during exams.

Said Juliana D’Cruz, an ‘O’ Level student at CHIJ St Joseph’s Convent, “You can go to them to clarify anything. They are so willing to help you, and that is very comforting. One of my teachers is very understanding; she knows what we go through. She basically calms us down, lets us ask questions, allows us to share our feelings, and she actually listens to us when we vent our anger.”

Kevin Tan, a social worker with Students Care Service, said, “Some of students ironically see parents’ support as a source of stress for them. Take for example an e-mail which we received from a student last year, who shared that her parents wanted her to get at least a B grade for Mathematics and her parents had already spent lots of money on tuition for this girl. And this girl was very afraid that she wouldn’t be able to meet the parents’ expectation, and in turn, it turned out to be a source of stress for the girl.”

English is the predominant ‘O’ Level subject that most students worried about, followed closely by Mathematics and Science subjects. When it comes to coping with stress, most ‘O’ Level students would stay focused and take it one step at a time, while ‘N’ Level students would detach themselves and watch a movie.

The study was part of an annual support service project provided by social workers to students taking their ‘O’ Levels exams last year. The support service allows students to share their problems with a social worker through SMS or e-mail. It has been renamed Project ONE this year and has been extended to include students taking their ‘N’ Levels this year. Project ONE will be open to students in 13 neighbourhood schools till November 30.

- CNA /ct

It’s amazing to see the bright minds of Singapore being stressed over exam. Normal scene in Singapore, where the academic pressure is normally great, and the need to succeed can overpower the need to sleep. As such, you can see from the above article that exam stress coping methods are effective in helping our youths. Naturally, being the helpful young man that I am, let me teach you a few cool tips, that will get you through the fire.

1. Count the number of days left that you can procrastinate for.

Yesh. Highly useful for those who love to procrastinate, yet are constantly nagged at to do more work. (No, bro, if you ever come to my blog, this is to tell me how many days left to work hard so as to do our family proud.) It is a great thing, but please, caution, if you know you need say a week at least for the mad rush to cram information, set your calender accordingly. You can then laugh at those in class who have started mugging and tell them, “What’s the big deal? Two weeks more leh.” No sweat. No pressure.

2. Dot those numbers on another calender out.

As you can see, I have started cancelling out the pictures since June, and this helps, cause it constantly reminds me how many more days to freedom (I am trying to ignore the fact there is still Higher Chinese O’s). It is great to know that you are not far away from the target. Only a few more dots left. For those stressed ones, you can try punching holes, or stabbing the dates with stationary.

3. Find a photo which has a lot of people you hope to see, fail their exams.

You see, the thing is, due to the highly complex innate evil that all humans are believed to have, we must hate someone, like you hope to see fail, because he has been like totally mugging his head off and is a freaking loser. So… Find a photo of him, and pin him up on the wall. Stare at his bright smiling face, then imagine how the face would look like after he realised that he failed, erm, say English. Motivates you to study, and provides comical pleasure to relieve some of those stress you’ve accumulated over the months, thanks to him.

By the way, the photo is just for illustrative purposes. I wish all in that photo good luck and godspeed for the exams

4. Get a cute plushie and highly ridiculous thingy to hold as you revise! Like a stress ball.

Yup. You heard me. Even if you’re a boy, or a masculine girl, or a girl who does not like plushie things, just get one. I got one. My mum had this purple furry handphone pouch, that looks totally ridiculous, and I koped it. Heh. Looks kinda in conflict with the look of my handphone. But, it is great to feel and hold (and try to rip apart) when you’re doing a particularly difficult subject. Works just like a stress ball that you squeeze in anger. But you must make it a ridiculous thing just for the laughter.

Yup. But the truly effective one is possibly just acting like you are totally unstressed, then make your classmates totally pressurized to see that you aren’t stressed one bit. It’s a great plan. Then get them more and more stressed. Whoa. Then you go in and laugh at those lovable kiddies.

Good luck to all taking major exams!