mumbai ahead of the higher secondary certificate hsc exams which will begin on thursday mental health experts in the city have been receiving a large number of students who are dealing with anxiety and fear the boards helpline too has been receiving over 100 phone calls from across the state schools are also holding sessions with parents and students to ensure they are at ease in the last days of the run up to the board examsthe most common concern for most students is the fear of blacking out during the exam students are worried that they will not remember all that they have studied in the past year we are asking them to relax and unwind before the exam so that the stress doesnt take over we have also seen a few extreme cases of anxiety sleep paralysis and stress as well said clinical psychologist seema hingorranythe state board appointed counsellors too have seen between 10 to 40 calls each day from anxious students and parents students want to know tips on how to remember the syllabus and not have trouble on the day of the exam students who are preparing for other competitive exams like the jee and neet are stressed about juggling the two exams said anuradha mohite a counsellor from pune she said that most of the calls she received are from the small towns in the state counsellor gopal bhagat said parents have been calling too we are advising parents to support their children emotionally and not add to their stress about the examinations and the marks they will secure he saidschools in the city are grappling with how to not let news of student suicides affect other students on sunday a very bright girl from our school committed suicide and the rest of the 450 students are discussing only about that we have been conducting so many counselling sessions for the students and parents but it still doesnt seem enough parents must look after the children and not leave them unmonitored especially this close to the exams said a school principal from the western suburbsover 335 lakh students will appear for the hsc examinations in the mumbai division which includes mumbai thane raigad and palghar districts across the state close to 15 lakh students will appear for the exam other exams which are round the corner are cbse class x and xii icse and isc and ssc students appearing for the hsc exam in mumbai 335 lakhhsc centres in mumbai 592state boards counselling helplines for mumbai division 8 am to 8 pm9322527076 9819016270 986787623 9423947266 9869634765 9967329370 7506302353 9969038020 9869307657exam advisoryhow parents can help your child is already feeling the exam pressure dont aggravate it stop making board exams the central topic of discussion at home help your child with drawing up a schedule for revision or practicing exam papers switch off all the distractions at home ensure that the child gets at least 68 hours of uninterrupted sleep stock up healthy food