Mindfulness involves focusing on the present and attending to the ‘here and now’ of our lives. It is having a non-judgmental view and experiencing life ‘moment by moment’. It does not mean that we avoid thinking about the future, rather we attend to the present, and be consciously aware of our thoughts, emotions and surroundings

Test anxiety 

Test anxiety is the emotional, physiological and behavioral responses to anticipating a possible negative evaluation in an exam. Factors causing test anxiety include rigid school environments, the types of evaluation, teachers who criticize students and time pressure for completing tasks. Interventions for test anxiety are frequently delivered by experts and specialists. This makes interventions for test anxiety difficult in low resource settings.

Prevalence of test anxiety

Deb et al. (2014) conducted a study among adolescents in Kolkata, India and found that 37% of students reported exam anxiety and 35% reported academic stress. A study conducted among 100 students from Grade 10 and 12 in Tamil Nadu, India found that 74 students had moderate anxiety and 8 students had severe anxiety. Males and 12th grade students had significantly higher anxiety than females and younger students since these results determine their higher study pathways and career. Furthermore, cultural stereotypes expect males to financially support their family. This could explain why girls sometimes outperform boys in academics in India (Ann Mary et al., 2014 ; Sareen, 2025 ).

Ways to reduce test anxiety 

Art, a natural activity for pre-adolescents and music that is enjoyed by most adolescents, provides an element of fun for students with test anxiety. Furthermore, practicing mindfulness in general reduces test anxiety by helping students stay in the present and study for their exams instead of worrying about poor performance. It is also positively associated with academic achievement in addition to other benefits for students of all ages.

Combining Mindfulness and Art activities, structured mandala coloring is linked to addressing test anxiety (Rose & Lomas, 2020 ). Mandala can be adapted as Kolam or Rangoli, which are traditional art forms of India.

Rose and Lomas’s intervention recruited participants whose exams were approaching in five weeks. Students were divided into three conditions: (1) free coloring, (2) coloring mandalas, and (3) coloring mandalas with some mindfulness instructions. All three groups showed significant reduction in test anxiety.

Another intervention involved 193 Grade 8 students and sought to compare the effectiveness of a mandala activity and free coloring activity on test anxiety. The participants were given an envelope either containing a mandala sheet or a blank sheet for coloring. To induce test anxiety, the students were informed that their parents would receive their test scores after the activity. Both conditions had significantly decreased test anxiety and increased state mindfulness after the intervention. Thus, any form of simple coloring activity could be considered beneficial in reducing test anxiety (Carsley & Heath, 2018 ). To summarize, research has suggested that mandala with instruction, mandala without instruction, and free coloring were all helpful, so these activities could be given to students based on their choice.

Strategies for reducing test anxiety also include tests that have a less rigid time limit, where students focus on the task instead of marks. Multiple assessment methods, motivation training and positive coping skills are also beneficial. Teachers, parents, and alumni can be invited to speak about the ways they prepared for exams and handled failures. Attributing failure to lack of effort rather than to lack of ability can also help in alleviating anxiety. For adolescents, programs to change negative self-focused cognitions could be used. Integrating mindfulness with well-established interventions such as CBT and systematic desensitization can also be effective to reduce anxiety.

Conclusion

Each student is unique and faces their own stressors. Hence, the same individual and school-based interventions will not work for everyone. Interventions should ideally adopt a school-wide bottom-up approach with involvement from stakeholders and the community. Family support and school culture play a pivotal role in students’ lives to reduce their test anxiety, perform well in exams and promote well-being.

References

Ann Mary, R., Marslin, G., Franklin, G., & Sheeba, C. J. (2014). Test anxiety levels of board exam going students in Tamil Nadu, India. BioMed Research International, 2014(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/578323  

Carsley, D., & Heath, N. L. (2018). Effectiveness of mindfulness-based colouring for test anxiety in adolescents. School Psychology International, 39(3), 251–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034318773523  

Deb, S., Strodl, E., & Sun, J. (2014). Academic-related stress among private secondary school students in India. Asian Education and Development Studies, 3(2), 118–134. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeds-02-2013-0007  

Rose, S. E., & Lomas, M. H. R. (2020). The potential of a mindfulness‐based coloring intervention to reduce test anxiety in adolescents. Mind, Brain, and Education, 14(4), 335–340. https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12255  

Sareen, L. (2025, May 13). CBSE Class 12 Results 2025: Girls outshine boys with 91.64%     pass rate, transgender candidates achieve 100%, details here. (2025, May 13). The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/education/news/cbse-class-12-results-2025-girls-outshine-boys-with-91-64-pass-rate-transgender-candidates-achieve-100-details-here/articleshow/121131717.cms