Relaxation before exams, recommended by specialists

Students are in full exam period. The pressure is at its highest. The national exams, regardless of whether it is the National Assessment or the Baccalaureate, mean the end of a cycle of secondary or high school studies, but, at the same time, represent a psychological stress factor for students or parents. Doctor Claudia Sava, 33 years of experience at a college in Iasi, said that the national exams have two components - one academic and one psychological, emotional, which must be managed: "The academic component is the one that requires an intellectual effort, concentration, the careful reading of the requirements, regardless of the level, that we are at the National Assessment or the Baccalaureate exam, understanding the requirements, the supporting texts and focusing on what is expected. A careful reading of the statements means, we teachers say, that half the requirement is solved. There is another component of these tests. And here is the difference between children who are more hesitant. There are no exams without emotion , but they manage to build. These experiences help them focus on what they have to solve." According to her, it is very important to properly manage the time before the tests: "It's about rest, relaxation. It is known that scientific and academic information is fixed through rest, through sleep. Also, the family climate is very important, i.e. it's about the way parents know how to empathize, to support the child. Adolescence, par excellence, is an age with emotional storms and there is certainly no valid recommendation for all children. Maybe it wouldn't be bad like parents to tell the children that the pressure is not so great and that most people who are now 15-16 years old, if we refer to the National Assessment, or 18-20 years old, if we refer to the Baccalaureate, have gone through this experience and have survived. So it's a necessary experience, it's a threshold and approaching it with a natural, calm will certainly bring better results than an extraordinary stress".

Before and during the national exams, not only the students are under stress, but also the parents turn out to be anxious in many cases: "Perhaps it would not be bad for the parents to try, as it is about adults, to control their emotions, because they they have a different life experience. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to refer to what they themselves experienced during the exams and remember the fact that it was not very easy for them and precisely because of this to try to create for the children a balanced and empathetic climate. And if they feel they can't do that, sure, there are ways. I left the child for the exam, I identify a spiritual way to help him in some way."

The most common mistake students make during written exams is related to reading the statement carefully, the pressure of the moment causing them to be less focused.