Dear aspirants,

Cracking UPSC exam is all about:

Syllabus Management + Time Management + Stress Management

As Prelims approaches, you have already worked on your syllabus. If you have practiced mock papers then you know how to manage your time too. But what about STRESS?

Most students lose their nerves during the exam and miss out on qualifying due to stress. The uncertain and unpredictable situation can make you lose accuracy and you may even miss the question whose answers you know. Stress can consume you effortlessly but it takes time and practice to manage it.

That’s why we would like to share these 3 techniques that can help you manage your stress and score in your exam!

A) 15 Seconds breathing exercise – When we feel stressed, our heart beats faster to provide more oxygen to the brain. But if it increases further, it reduces our mental alertness and hampers our memory. What to do? 

According to Jason Selk – “Take a 15-second breath. 6 seconds in, 2 seconds hold, 7 seconds out. This will trick your brain into thinking that you don’t need more oxygen and that you can handle the situation.”

Practice this every day so that when you sit for the exam and feel the stress getting to you, you can take 15 seconds and relax before you start answering.

B) The situation has no meaning, we give meaning to it – Remember, the exam is a neutral condition. It is neither stressful nor stress-free. It’s just an exam. The more we hype it up in our minds, the more stressful the paper seems. Relax! Tell yourself that it is nothing more than an exam and you can beat it! Trust yourself and your preparation and do not let the thought of the exam stress you out.

C) Most of our thoughts are negative – A study states that we have over 6,200 thoughts in a day. And when we are under stress, most of our thoughts are negative. During the exam, when we get stressed, we give more value to the negative thoughts and the stress starts building even more. 

This is where guidance from your mentors can help you manage stress. All you need to do is remember what your mentors taught you about stress management. Keep in mind how they explained the techniques to manage your time and answers. (Example below)

But if you haven’t learned these techniques, you can still get in touch with our mentors for absolutely free and learn a few stress management techniques that can help you remain calm during the tough times and focus only on cracking the exam.

Another aspirant wrote this:

The mentors at Civilsdaily helped students manage their concerns and stress during their most difficult times. In fact, as a testament, one of our students wrote the following about our mentorship program: