Beating ‘examinophobia’: How students can conquer stress Beating ‘examinophobia’: How students can conquer stress | India Today Insight Instead of dreading the prospect of taking exams, school students need to learn how to approach them in a planned and systematic manner advertisement Illustration for representational purposes by Siddhant Jumde The fear exams inspire in students is very real. Responsible for mental stress and anxiety in children, especially school-going, “examinophobia” often results in children becoming irritable, skipping meals or overeating, suffering from restlessness and insomnia, getting frequent headaches and panic attacks and, sometimes, feeling hopeless about the future. Stress and pressure from parents and peers and lack of preparation can be key factors besides the frequency of examinations. “The Indian education system emphasises a lot on annual examinations. Rather than just making the final exams count, weekly and monthly tests should be given a better role in the assessment policy. The sole purpose of examinations should be to test knowledge and not memory," says Anshul Vashisht, a career counsellor and COO and co-founder of ed-tech firm Twin Win.