I open my eyes from a dizzy sleep and see rows of benches till where my vision could take me. This place is familiar to me, I have studied here but why am I alone? The benches start to shake and scream deafening my ears, books from the desk start flipping its pages at a mechanical speed. I tread near to have a glance, “ENTRANCE EXAMS!”, it says. I jolt up so fast that my head feels light and the room spins. My forehead is covered in sweat as the realization hits, it was all a dream! 

But the reality wasn’t any better, I had to give my entrance exam anytime soon. My friends had already given them and were way ahead of me in the application process. I didn’t know where to start or how to prepare, the only voices I could hear in my head were “FAILURE”, “STRESS” and “WHAT IF”. And it is not just the entrance exam – there is self doubt that comes along, the anxiety of not matching up to the standards of our peers, siblings – are all nightmare.

But then I came to my senses – I had to take action. I started my research, to find out more. After spending hours and days researching I’ve come to understand how these entrances are different from our college examinations. They are more practical and require application than memory. You’ll constantly discover yourself cracking your brain most of the time – and in some sense it is exciting?? Sometimes, you might even end up questioning yourself on how you made it till here.

Major chunk of our results depend on the strategies we adapt and the direction we traverse in. As students, anxiety becomes a part of our life, but our attitude towards dealing with the same is what makes us different and produces results. Hence, I decided to have a no-pressure plan, which meant planning out everything from A to Z till the day of my entrance exam. We often underestimate the power of time management and to-do-list. We procrastinate and give in to distractions – and mistakenly blame it on our lack of ability. So guys – lets create a strategy and get to work.

Another feature of my plan included annotations (yep I never liked doing that either) for we tend to remember what we annotate. So here I am, cannot say I am 100% sorted! Does that even exist? But I'm doing what I must do - not buckling under stress - since I have a well designed strategy in place. I know how important it is for everyone of us students, to get that dream score for that dream university. The fact is, if you’ve reached till here - you care! So buckle up and get started.