Pegasus Young Journalists Club
PEGASUS STUDENT VOICE
Youth Health Corner
Balancing Academic Pressure
Academic pressure isn’t just a trendy term, it’s a raging force in today's society. It includes the
vast and broad impact that it can have on teenagers’ mental health, leading to many other
psychological problems that have long-term impacts on us. Teenagers are mostly pressured by
their family members, to achieve better results than them in competitions, or to be better than
their peers, leading to a feeling of overwhelm and disappointment.
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In this article, we will be exploring the many ways teenagers can overcome these struggles and
how they can find balance between academic success & mental well-being.
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Common sources of academic stress include: exams and grades, societal expectations, transition
periods, difficulty in time management, perfectionism, lack of support, heavy workload and
much more. Today, we will only be talking about a few of the points mentioned above and
provide some other activities that can help in work-life balance.
1. Exams and grades
After exams, there’s a lot of interest in each other's grades, especially the top students' grades.
These top students always feel pressured to score the highest scores, while others fear of scoring
low. To avoid being part of a nosy group of students, be kind and focus on your own education
and success. Aim to be in a social circle including people that want to make a positive difference
in society and where everyone is happy about each other's successes and celebrate them together.
2. Difficulty in time management
Teenagers have difficulty in time management since they don’t label their activities into groups
that matter to them. In order to improve your time management skills, you should plan out your
days and weeks. By doing so, you will be much more prepared for the days ahead and won’t be
surprised with upcoming tests, leading to less stress in exams as well. To reach your maximum
potential, you should set short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goals help to advise you on
your next few steps, meanwhile long-term goals help to map out your future.
3. Perfectionism
Teens always strive for perfection, because they think that by doing so they will be better than
their peers. But in reality, Einstein also made mistakes that we might have not noticed before, but
in the end he still succeeded. A crucial step in perfectionism is being self aware of it and working
towards the disappearance of it. In order to do so, we need to ask ourselves 2 important
questions:
1. How can I complete this task more quickly?
2. How can I simplify my approach to achieve my goal?
From the answers of those questions we need to make a plan. The next few steps will be
followed with action in our daily lives.
In order to minimize the effect of academic pressure on teenagers, we need to allocate specific
times in our lives to do the things we love and enjoy doing, whether that is reading, exercising,
spending time with family and friends, hobbies and interests, or journaling.
If you find scrolling on the internet relaxing and fun, sure, do just that, but everything has a limit
including your screen time. According to a 2023 report by Qustodio, teenagers spend an average
of 7 hours and 22 minutes per day on screens, which is a lot considering that it’s only an average
number. From the screens we get a lot of health problems that we are very aware of so there’s no
need to put emphasis on it, so consider those problems before you take the burden upon your
shoulders of dealing with many health problems.
I hope this article was informative and helpful to you, while simultaneously changing some of
your beliefs for the better. Don’t be discouraged by society and the way that people act, but keep
working hard for yourself and all of your hard work will pay off.
Author: Arba M.
