The most important, demanding and stressful feature of a student's life is examination. It is the deciding factor for a student who wants to move up in the academic field. Many students define it as the 'scary' period of student life, because it is the one thing that truly tests the ability and capability of a student. It is only during the exam time, one sees students running around, looking stressed, living on junk food, and taking their books to bed with them. It is during this time, students truly neglect their health and study 'last-minute'.
The problem with students these days is that they have a relaxed attitude towards their studies throughout most of the semester and when exam time comes, they start to panic. Michael Eisen, the founder of The Youth Wellness Network, says students panic due to the pressure of not having studied beforehand and this panic causes students to worry more.
Panic creates even more stress. Without ever taking a proper break to restore the balance in their minds and bodies, a boiling point is inevitable. Not to mention, even if they manage to get through this period of unease and write a test successfully, there is very little chance they will retain much of what they just studied.A good student is one that stays up to date with all his notes, and makes the effort to learn and to know more. If one does this, it becomes easier for that person during study-break and exam time. But the one who does not do this, relaxes throughout the semester, and simply does not worry about coursework marks, immediately becomes active the moment exam time comes around. That is the time when students wreck their heads, trying to cram information in order to pass their exams. Or they make plans to copy or cheat in the exams.
Time management and organization are indeed very important, especially if a student has to prepare for examinations. Sadly, this is not the case with students here in Fiji. Most are just not motivated, and plainly speaking, not interested. It is very disheartening to know students nowadays are not motivated. As a current student myself, I also feel the pressure, the occasional headaches that result from trying to overload all the information, but in the end we all have to realize that we are doing all this to create a better future for ourselves.
I remember tales my parents would tell me about the difficulties they faced when they were studying, that because their parents were not educated, the only options they had were either study and make your own future or get married, and work in the farm. This was their motivation and today my parents are both educators at prominent institutions. Because of the need to be something more than just farmhands, they did their utmost best to study and sit through tough exams like the Cambridge Examination.
Students these days do not have the same motivation as the previous generation did, nor have most of them been through the same situation of poverty and helplessness. However every student should have the initiative to prepare well for tough times, in the case of student life, examinations. It has been said "If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail". Preparation, organization and motivation are the best tools for a student. Armed with these three weapons, any student would be able to easily overcome and do well in examinations.
