Exam pressures cause stress

Monique Tutlewski says exams can be a competition among students. Photo / Ben Fraser

Rotorua secondary school students are in the midst of NCEA exams and some are feeling strung out by the expectation not only to achieve, but to achieve with high grades.

Teen phone counselling service 0800 What's Up says it receives an increased number of calls from young people during exam time. Manager Rhonda Morrison said sometimes young people needed someone outside their normal circle to talk to about the pressure and stress they were feeling.

Rotorua Year 13 student Monique Tutlewski, 18, agreed there was huge pressure put on students sitting exams.

"Year 11 exams were quite nerve-wracking but nothing compared to the pressure put on Year 13s for end of year exams."

Monique said she was feeling pressure to achieve with Merit and Excellence credits.

She said if you "only" got Achieved credits, that wasn't considered good enough.

"It is really disheartening when you start an assignment with enthusiasm and follow the guidelines to getting the higher grades but then it gets marked and you still only get Achieved. It makes you feel horrible," she said. "There is a lot of peer pressure in school and you are looked down on if you don't get the same grades as your friend.

"It's no longer about getting an education, it's a competition for who can be the best at the most subjects," she said.

Another Rotorua high school student, who did not want to be named, said students had expectations placed on them from a variety of people, including peers, teachers, and parents.

"We are expected to gain good grades throughout a variety of subjects and teachers want students to apply lots of extra study and homework to achieve high grades in their subject, but forget we have other subjects with the same workload and expectations."

He said the expectation to get Excellence grades in all subjects was unrealistic and some parents were unaware of how difficult it was to gain the high marks.

"When a student gets a merit and the parents aren't satisfied, it evokes a sense of disgrace within the student and in order to make up for it, they add more homework. It's not healthy."

John Paul College school counsellor Nancy Macmillan said around this time of year there was an increase in the number of senior students attending counselling for stress-related concerns.

"Stress can get in the way of sleep which in turn can impact upon general feelings of wellness and our resilience in dealing with day to day worries."

Ms Macmillan said simple things such as daily exercise, eating healthily, drinking lots of water, maintaining regular sleep patterns and avoiding screens for at least an hour before sleep, would all help to reduce stress.-NCEA exams will finish on December 2. Results should be online from mid-January.