How to Overcome Depression while Preparing for NEET

National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is an entrance examination in India for the students who wish to study Graduate medical courses from private or government colleges in India.
It is one of the toughest exams in India. Students who wish to appear and qualify this exam need to study quite hard. They have to dedicate hours and hours of study, almost half of their day. In this tight schedule of studies, feeling stressful is natural.
But slowly this pressure and stress start getting stronger every day and students start sinking into depression slowly, which is the worst situation anyone can go through. Depression destroys the peace of mind. In this state of mind, no one can focus on the studies.
To understand how to overcome this situation one must understand its causes. So here are the natural causes and solutions to overcome depression in students :

Constant Pressure

Generally, a student is under constant pressure not only because of studies but also because of parents’ expectations. Every parent wants their child to succeed but what they forget is every child has his own dreams and passion. Some have low grasping power while some have high grasping power. Some want to become a doctor, while some don’t.
But in the desire of their child to become successful and earn lakhs, they start pressurizing them. They ask their child to study for hours and hours. And when a student thinks he’s unable to do so, he starts feeling stressful and slowly starts over thinking and over analyzing every situation. This slowly results in the tired state of mind. They feel exhausted.
This is something which should be considered quite dangerous. Every parent should not ignore this.
Let your child decide what he wants to do in future because after all, he has to live his life. This journey is his. Let him do whatever he wants to do and he will surely succeed. What students need is constant support and motivation from their parents, not pressure and over expectations.

Lack of Preparation

Okay so here’s the rub – many students lack far behind in preparations before the exam.
They have an incomplete syllabus and they feel they won’t be able to complete it on time.
For exams like NEET, you have to be pre-prepared with the syllabus. You have to plan the study time table properly dividing the time equally in each subject.
You have to make separate notes for every subject in your own language. Don’t get it photocopied or printed in any way.
Writing on your own helps you in memorising the topics better and remembering them for a longer period of time.
Always add sufficient break times in between your timetable. A 15 or 20 minutes break after 2 or 3 hours study is effective. In this 15 – 20 minutes break, you can do anything that calms your mind. This increases your focus in studies afterwards.
Give yourself some time to exercise in the morning. Though it’s hard to spare time to anything else but studies, you can always take out 30 minutes in the early morning to keep your body and mind fit. It will help you in focusing better on your studies and will keep you active throughout the day.
Maintain a proper diet. Eat carbohydrate-rich foods and avoid caffeine.

Psyche your mind

Psyche your mind in better ways. Don’t ever think that you can’t do it. If ever, this thought crosses your mind, study for a little longer that day. It will make you feel better and will make you realize that you are trying and trying is enough.
Don’t over think about exams and study pattern and what so ever. Think straight. Find correct exam syllabus and pattern and study according to it. Find previous question papers and try solving them.
Learn from your mistakes. The mistakes you make in mock tests, in solving previous question papers, while revising the syllabus – always learn from your mistakes, don’t ignore them. And never underestimate yourself.

Relevant Links
How to Prepare Effectively for CAT Exam [2023]
How to Prepare for NDA 2023
How to Prepare For NEET 2023 Without Coaching

Take Advice

If you ever feel stressed and tired and think you can’t do it anymore, don’t suffer alone. Go and talk to someone. Someone who can help you. Take advice from elders, teachers or parents.
If you have doubts and some unsolved questions, go to someone and have them solved.
Practice as much as you can under someone’s supervision so that they can help you when you’re unable to solve something or when you’re doing mistakes.
Go through every question at least 5 – 10 times. Learn the basics. Start from the very beginning, it will help you in understanding the chapter and concepts better.
Don’t ever feel heartbroken about your studies and don’t think you can’t do it. Learn as much as you can. Go for knowledge not for marks.
Understand the pattern and understand your learning power. Make your study timetable according to it. Take time to do things you love. Don’t stress.
Good luck.