Stress Of Education

[jii]

I’ve been studying for some years now, and the build up of sitting exams is becoming more and more stressful. I’ve stopped listening to bhangra as it distracts me, and have started to listen to kirtan.

Usually I try to get away from studies, but in reality you cant run or hide from the fact that you have to sit the exams and so you have to fight through the stress and pressure.

At times like these I usually attending gurdwara to keep my stress levels down. What do others do at times like this, what is the best way a sikh should fight this pain.

p.s. if there is anyone studying the LPC please get in touch.

Thanks

[Guest peacemaker]

PS3

[Jaspaul Singh]

- take a break - do not study continous number of hours, play ps3 like singh said if you have to - or get out of the house - play some sports - goto the gym - watch some tv - read up on some posts online

- if you cant study alone - call up your classmates and study there - change your location of study (home/library/school)

- all of the above and remember, read some extra bani (not cuz you have to, or that it will save you during exam time but rather cuz you want to learn more about guru saahib) - do some extra banis - listen to kirtan - if you know how to play vaja, sit down and start playing random shabads that pop up in your head

just some random points that shud help :s

[Preetcharan Singh]

wjkk wjkf jee!

I started University last September (1st yr). I am in my first set of exams. In school, I always used to never study during the term, then cram in exam leave and I got away with some pretty good results. I didn't obviously intend to do this at uni because I was like, crickey this is gonna be hard - and I told myself, okay new start, need to work hard, put in 2hours a night so i don't make the same mistakes. But obviously, I didn't study at all during the term, and it really has stabbed me in the back - really cant get away with it at uni!!!

The best way to study without stress is to pace it. Study half an hour a day during term - make goods notes, make sure you understand everything the day you learn it. When you learn something in class, you take it in. If you don't look over it again, in 24 hours of listening to that lesson, you will remember 10% of it. This is fact by the way - not me rambling. On the other hand, if you go home, then read your notes for the day, that percentage of remembering will go up to 40% for 7 days. If you then look over it a third time, maybe at the weekend, write notes up, then it will shoot up to 60% and that's it - it'll stick!! If you don't do that - then you remember 10% of something for one day, then completely forget it! So the real answer is to look at things three times. Then you'll know you actually understand it. When it comes to exam time, all you have to do is just make sure you remember it.

For my exams, I was studying really hard, but didn't get anywhere because I kept getting stuck on learning things because I didn't understand them! If you don't understand something you can not commit it to memory!

If, you don't have that discipline, like me, and mess about during term and are stuck at exam leave with no revision, then the best way is this. Draw up a timetable of your exam leave. Use excel if you want - i have a brilliant template which i use all the time, so i can give that to you if you want - i just change the dates and exam times when i make a new timetable. So you have this timetable - you timetable in your exam dates and the things you have to do! - sleeping, waking up, amrit vela, Gurdwara, lunch, tea, leisure..and so on. Then in those slots left, you have to split up those times to all your subjects. You have to ask yourself, if i study in all these slots, will i get everything done? If the answer is no, then you have to sacrifice something - perhaps not watching Simpsons at 6 or something! If the answer is yes, then brilliant - make sure you stick to it! I can only really study properly for 40minutes before I lose my concentration. So I study for 40minutes, then have a break for 20. This brings it up to one hour. If you do this for three hours, from 9am to 12am, you will have done 2 hours studying and then you can have lunch..you could have lunch for an hour, then work from 1 - 4...then take a break until maybe half 7, then work till nine, go to sleep at 10 or something! If you haven't done as much as you thought you would have, then work more, if you've done more than you expected, then move on to other stuff which may take longer - or take a break! If you're not able to concentrate - don't sit there and get stressed - do something else like the other singh said - do paath - chaupee is short and beautiful - simply asking for kirpa - do that maybe 5 times and you'll feel lighter!! you won't wanna play ps3 after that ha!

the 40min/20 thing doesn't really work at un - i just have to work three hours straight - and my mind is getting used to it. The more you push yourself, your brain will change to concentrate for longer! If you can concentrate longer then work an hour then take 20min break!

hope that helps dude,

I have more tips! - these aren't my tips by the way - I went on a course called, "learning how to learn"! It was fantastic...

good luck dude!!

wjkk wjkf..

ps. you can see it's helped me lots - i'm sitting here procrastinating on sikhsangat haha!!

in the end it's all about discipline

all kirpa

[MPKaur]

For myself, the best way to avoid end of semester stress, was to start early, as early as the first week.

I used to do my readings on time and take notes as I read.

2 weeks before an exam i would then review my notes At least once a day, and trying to do it 2 times. If anything didn't make sense or i didn't undrestand something, i would go back to the textbook.

After a week or so of reviewing, i would make notes of my notes.

I would review those a couple of times (usually 2/day) until the night before the exam. By that time, i usually knew everything very well.

So that last night, i would then concentrate on whatever i felt not as comfortable and then I would make a one page note of my notes, just key words that would remind me of the subject.

The last of review of the night was only that one page, so was the early morning before the exam.

That work for me for years, however everyone is different. You need to find what works for you. For myself stress was usually caused because i wasn't ready enough for an exam. But when i was really prepared i felt much more at ease, although i still had butterflies in the stomach

[no_0ne]

or you could try the most effective, quickest solution:

take a break and do naam abhiyaas. It really puts your mind in peace.

[guptveer1469]

take a big break for 2-3 hours

and don't spend them on comp or ps2-3/xbox

just get out of ur house

recite waheguru jaap

mix of fresh air and waheguru jaap helps.. :s

[Preetcharan Singh]

wjkk wjkf jee

For myself, the best way to avoid end of semester stress, was to start early, as early as the first week.

I used to do my readings on time and take notes as I read.

2 weeks before an exam i would then review my notes At least once a day, and trying to do it 2 times. If anything didn't make sense or i didn't undrestand something, i would go back to the textbook.

After a week or so of reviewing, i would make notes of my notes.

I would review those a couple of times (usually 2/day) until the night before the exam. By that time, i usually knew everything very well.

So that last night, i would then concentrate on whatever i felt not as comfortable and then I would make a one page note of my notes, just key words that would remind me of the subject.

The last of review of the night was only that one page, so was the early morning before the exam.

That work for me for years, however everyone is different. You need to find what works for you. For myself stress was usually caused because i wasn't ready enough for an exam. But when i was really prepared i felt much more at ease, although i still had butterflies in the stomach tongue.gif

That's an absolutely brilliant post - thanks very much for the advice even though it was someone else looking for it! It's definitely about refining notes down to keywords so when you think of them, it'll open up this "map" to the whole topic!

thanks!!!

gurrroooo!!!!

naam abhiyaas is the answer to everything!

wjkk wjkf jee!

[jii]

Thank you all for your responses. Though I must make it clear, the stress is not really about not be able to revise or how to revise but more in light of having gone through so many exams it makes me feel tense. Having experienced pressure for exams, each time one has another exams, the pressure builds up.

I have completed my degree and a masters degree, and having gone through lots of exams on the degree, doing more exams at the masters level only makes it more tough mentally, although one does become more common at correcting their previous mistakes.

As a general tip I would say consolidate every lesson in one sheet, thus over the period of one semester it covers about 17 lessons, which when revising can be done at such a short period of time as there will only be about 17 sheets to revise. This can be done in about 3 days max and after going though these sheets, the topics of these notes should the consolidated onto one sheet which eventually should cover the whole course.

The best advice which I cannot stress how important it is; is to ‘start early’. Plan to be ready at least one week before the exam. The best way to find out how much you need to study is to ask yourself, if you can score top marks on an exam paper whilst using a textbook. If you can, then all you need to do is revise. But if you cannot, then you must learn and understand the material and how to apply the material to the questions, before you can begin the stage of revising.

I really wanted to know more about how a Sikh tackles situations when under pressure on tenseness; how does one take themselves a step back to relax. Furthermore, what is ‘naam abhiyaas’ and how does one carry it out?

[Preetcharan Singh]

wjkk wjkf jee

Goodness me I thought you were at your GCSE's or something!!

My deepest apologies - I should be taking advice from you!!!

Naam Abhyaas is another term for Simran. Sitting down in absolute silence and stillness, block all thoughts out and meditate on the word Waheguru - wonderful inlightener! There are lots of ways of doing this. You could contemplate on one line of Gurbani, for example,

vin thudh hor j mungunaa sir dhukhaa kai dhukh

To ask for any other than You, Lord, is the most miserable of miseries.

dhaehi naam sunthokheeaa outhurai mun kee bhukh

Please bless me with Your Name, and make me content; may the hunger of my mind be satisfied.

and then whilst thinking about those two lines, do Simran.

Simran can be done in different ways - singing/speaking/inner speech/breathing through saas giras. What ever is comfortable for you! - All about the love for the One Lord in the end!

It helps to turn all the lights off - it'll stop you from being distracted!

what do you think?

wjkk wjkf jee