The most challenging part of being a student is facing an upcoming deadline. A single look in the library full of students makes it clear that crafting an intellectual thesis is not fun at all. It must go unnoticed by many, but the majority of students silently take a toll of academic deadlines and don’t even talk about it.

University life is supposed to be fun and fulfilling instead of being stressful and traumatising. The constant pressure to perform better and meet deadlines results in poor quality of assignments and dissertations due to a lack of space for thought. From anxiety and burnout to sleep deterioration and depression, students have shared their psychological struggles.

Management of Time – A Crucial Way to Reduce Stress

The lack of time management and leaving the assignments for the final days before the deadline make the assignments more stressful than they already are. William Lloyd, a recent journalism graduate at Kingston University, shared how long and troublesome it felt to write a dissertation.

“I caught the flu for the second time in my life, a week before it was due. That wasn’t ideal because I’d not really organised my time properly. True to form, I had left half of it to write with a few days left. 

To save students from all-nighters like that, students prefer to turn to the online assignment help UK for quick and professional assistance before the deadline. This is the reason that many institutions focus on time management programmes for students to stop them from panicking and taking a toll of academic deadlines.

Fear of Criticism – An Obsession with Being the Best

An English literature graduate, Cat Soave, from the University of York, wrote, “I immediately encountered problems with my dissertation supervisor. They decided that I couldn’t write about the topic I had spent three years of my education working up to. Their rationale was that I was “not a scholar” and would be unable to do adequate research for my topic.”

Such comments from seniors, especially from supervisors, shatter the students’ confidence and morale when attempting something unique and challenging.

Cat added to her disappointment, “I was incredibly disappointed, and had to begin my research from scratch. In later meetings, I didn’t feel confident enough to be very vocal for fear of further criticism. I ended up completing my dissertation with next to no help and no sleep.” This shows how intellectually incompatible supervisors add more to the stress instead of support.

Friendship with Anxiety – When Panic Attacks Enter the Room

Anxiety and panic attacks have always been everlasting friends of university students during exams and dissertations. The fear of missing deadlines or not meeting expectations can trigger intense worry, which in turn only leads to deterioration of academic performance instead of being a source of productivity.

Katie Wallis, a student of Art and Science from University College London, shared how panic attacks occurred when she became overwhelmed by writing her dissertation and preparing for her exam altogether, “There’s nothing quite so soul-destroying as a stack of 20 books next to you that you have to go through to work out which elusive page your trifling statistic came from.”

Katie was devastated when she lost track of references for her dissertation, and she didn’t have enough time to go through the books again to find the references when the final exams were looming over her head like a deadly sword. For such situations, online exam help services offer students a supportive hand to hold for professional guidance during exam preparation.

Burnout – An Endgame for Students

After a load of stress, depression, and sleep deprivation, having burnout is natural for any student. A student of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at the University of Cambridge, Jessica Shales, in her advice to juniors, said,

“When I sat down to do my assignment, I found it was quite easy to become sidetracked, and to start reading lots in detail about stuff that wasn’t directly related to my question. If I were to start again, I think I would want to keep my overall aim more clearly in mind.”

This proves how students’ minds get jumbled up in mixed thoughts and ideas when they are feeling intense burnout from constant pressure and stress. Jessica added, “I suppose my advice is to do whatever you’d try to do in a shorter essay, which is to pose a question, use relevant evidence to discuss it, and arrive at a conclusion accordingly.”

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Steps to Take – A Silent Warfare

Some of the effective ways to manage academic stress are as follows:

• Reforming Deadline Structures – Planning schedules according to the deadlines and requesting flexibility for valid reasons can prevent the inevitable stress.
• Promoting Mental Health Literacy – The main reason for burnout and depression is the lack of moral support. Students should learn to let go of the hesitance to discuss their academic stress instead of being embarrassed about it.
• Encouraging Balance – A balance should be maintained between physical activities and education. Obsessing over good grades and remarks messes with mental health. Physical activity and socialisation are nourishment for the human mind and body.

Final Thoughts

Students’ lives are full of challenges, and stress is inevitable, especially when exams and deadlines are close. But students should be aware of how to manage that stress.