This topic is something Dr. Swaroop and his team of Sports Psychologists at MyMentalCoach are very passionate about.
It’s about empowering students to manage their mindsets and prepare for the JEE and NEET exams they have been studying for years.
I’m sure many of you are wondering how Mindset Assessment is valid for Entrance exam students. Let me explain.
As I was working with elite athletes, I realized a prevalent factor between Olympic athletes and entrance exam students. All Olympic athletes know they have gotten one chance at glory and that’ll come four years down the line. Every day they are training and sacrificing so that over time they can give their best.
Isn’t it absolutely the same for entrance exam students?
Entrance exam students also face the same. Many of them start their training from 9th and 10th standard onwards and they train themselves, training their academic acumen and giving various kinds of exams joining coaching classes and practicing really hard. They do that so they can have glory on that one day of exam.
They feel the same amount of pressure as an Olympic athlete feels.
Therefore I truly believe we need to start recognizing that entrance exam students also need to be empowered with mental training tools by which they can manage their mindset in the same way elite and Olympic athletes do.
Therefore, entrance exam students are for me student-athletes, they have that same pedestal in my eyes, and at MyMentalCoach it is a commitment we don’t look at them as a problem that they are facing or with some kind of issue that they might have.
We think it’s very natural when one has this kind of long-term goal and one is studying for long hours for years. Exam students are bound to go through such emotional upheaval, therefore they need to train their minds otherwise they can risk all the time and effort they have put in.
Therefore at MyMentalCoach we are fully committed to providing mental training programs to elite athletes as well as exam students.
Why Does Mental Assessment Need to Come Before a Mental Training Program?
Let us understand this with an example.
If a student gives a mock exam that went well, their mindset is going to be good and if their mock exam the next day didn’t go well, their mindset won’t be as good.
So what is mindset?
One of the biggest challenges is a student’s inability to know what’s happening to their mind. Because it’s impossible to be motivated at the same level every time. It’s very difficult to be confident about your studies when you’re getting different scores in the mock exam.
We don’t know how that impacts a student’s mental well-being and their mindset overall. We don’t know objectively about their self-belief, various abilities, or student’s perception of their ability to perform to their fullest.
Therefore students need to have a snapshot of their identity and mind. The idea is to look at your identity from a third-party perspective. To get a snapshot of your mind without adding any emotional connection into it, because it’s very natural to feel emotional and connected to your personality.
That’s what this assessment provides answers to; your questions about the feelings you are feeling the way you are probably behaving, the areas that you need to work on, and the areas you are good at i.e., your strengths and weaknesses. This will give you an idea as to where you should work to feel more at peace.
How does Assessment Help Students deal with Burnout and Pressure?
I agree a lot of parents and students come to us with problems about burnout, stress, and pressure, they say their child is under a lot of stress and pressure.
So let’s understand first what is stress and pressure.
Theoretically, this is the definition of stress: “Stress is the body’s response to any demand or challenge that disrupts its normal state of balance or equilibrium. This reaction can be physical, mental, or emotional and may occur due to external pressures (like work, school, or relationships) or internal factors (such as self-expectations or personal fears). While a certain level of stress can motivate and improve performance, excessive or prolonged stress can negatively impact physical and mental health.”
But do you think this is the cause of the problem? I don’t think so, this is an effect of a problem.
There are other things that have impacted the student’s mindset because of which the student is feeling that way.
Therefore we not only measure the performance pressure of the student but also other factors like; motivation, self-belief, goals, concentration, and self-discipline.
These factors tell us singularly about the degree to which all these factors are influencing their feelings, they are also telling collectively what areas are putting pressure on the student. This assessment tells us the level of burnout and overall personality of the child.
The assessment also tells us a few of the early indicators of serious things that might happen in the future.
Therefore this assessment predicts early signs and helps students and parents take immediate measures to get on track.
What are the 2 Most Important Factors of the Assessment?
Concentration:
What does concentration require? It requires a relaxed mindset, but if your mind is overthinking is not relaxed, and is not in an emotionally peaceful state then of course you’ll get distracted.
With this measure, we will be able to understand what are the things affecting a student’s concentration, and quickly we can work on managing all those things.
Discipline:
We agree entrance exam students are already very disciplined because they are going to classes and studying for long periods.
But the discipline we are talking about here is the discipline of lifestyle. Because we see that there is a lot of junk food eating and a lot of unhealthy living habits, disrupted sleep. This impacts the overall mindset the child is in because their body starts behaving in a particular manner if there are no proper lifestyle changes.
How Can Parents and Students Benefit from this Program?
These are the following positive factors of the assessment and training program:
- Identification as to where the issue is
- Objectivity while looking at 6 factors
- Mitigating things that are being affected
- Identification of future problems
- Holistic assessment
- Handholding of student for the last 10 days before the exam to ensure that student is in the right mental state.
Ending note
We at the end of the day want our student-athletes to come out of the exam hall and be proud of themselves for the effort they took. A life worth fighting for is what we want all students to feel because they have sacrificed so much for this exam for so long.
If you want to personally get in touch with me or my team, I am just a Whatsapp call away. Feel free to connect to +91 9823791323 and/or email support@mymentalcoach.com for anything you require to help you on your Mental Training and Peak Performance Journey!
