Rohit, a 10th-grade student, started feeling extremely stressed due to his upcoming board exams. The moment he opened his books, he felt anxious. He couldn’t even sleep. While some of his friends were also stressed, others seemed to be handling their studies with ease. Rohit felt stuck and didn’t know how to overcome his fear. He shared his experience with TeenBook. 

Till now, I had never taken an exam so seriously. But 10th boards? Oh boy.

Suddenly, Maths started feeling like a supervillain. Many of my friends had joined coaching classes, but I knew there was no magic wand that could make me a Math genius in just a month. My marks were fine, yet this time, the fear was unreal.

Every time I sat down to study, the numbers seemed to spin in my head. Math had always stressed me out, but this time, it felt unbearable.

One day, while struggling with trigonometry, I got so frustrated that I ended up tearing multiple pages from my notebook. In desperation, I called a friend for help, and to my surprise, he solved the problem in just one attempt. That’s when I suddenly recalled a famous dialogue from 3 Idiots—“Dost fail ho jaye toh dukh hota hai, par dost first aa jaye toh zyada dukh hota hai!” and I started overthinking everything again.

Collapsing in class!

As pre-board exams started, my anxiety reached its peak. One day in class, while writing an exam, I suddenly started sweating—in the middle of January! It was freezing outside, but I was drenched in sweat. Before I knew it, I fainted.

When I woke up, mumma was standing there, looking super worried. And like a true bechara beta, I immediately started crying, “Mumma, I can’t do this! I’ll fail Maths!”

Mumma didn’t say much—she just took me home. The next day, I gave my other exams, but I had officially skipped my pre-board Maths exam. (RIP my confidence!)

Mumma steps In!

A few days later, my mumma checked my Math notebooks and noticed something surprising—my calculations were correct, but I just couldn’t solve the entire problem.

She sat beside me and said, “You’re doing well in other subjects, but why does Math make you so anxious? You know you can’t pass 10th without Math, right? It’s not optional yet!”

I sighed and said, “Mumma, I just don’t get trigonometry. If the final exam has too many trigonometry questions, I won’t be able to do them.”

That’s when mumma gave me her golden advice—focus on the topics I found easier. Math is not just trigonometry; there are many other topics too! She suggested that if I wasn’t comfortable going for extra coaching, I could take home tuition instead.

This simple advice reduced my anxiety a little, but what truly helped was when mumma started studying with me and took a few mock tests at home. My scores improved slightly—at least enough to pass! And that’s when my stress finally started to fade.

Mumma’s magical tips!

Now that my board exams have begun, let me share Mumma’s legendary survival hacks with you:

•  Break your studies into chunks – Don’t try to devour the whole syllabus at once. Study in small parts & take chill breaks.
• Revise smartly – Write stuff down, make bullet points, and if needed, study with music (lofi beats are life!). 
• Breathe, bro! – Feeling like your brain is on fire? Close your eyes, take deep breaths, and chill for 5 minutes.
• Sleep or suffer. – Late-night study marathons won’t make you Einstein. Sleep for 7-8 hours or risk forgetting everything. 
• Positive mindset = OP Results – Keep saying, “I got this!” It sounds cheesy, but trust me, it works!

Final thoughts

Bro, these tips saved my life. If you’re also freaking out over exams, don’t panic—just chill, breathe, and study smart.

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