By Chen Jingting

WHAT is going on?

That was my first thought when I heard about the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) student who stabbed his professor last week before falling off a building.

As fellow NTU students, my friends were shocked to learn about the tragedy, but my reaction was one of sadness and confusion.

The reasons behind his actions are not known, so it would be hasty to speculate. Nonetheless, his death highlighted the pressures undergraduates face at university.

Those whom I?ve talked to said they had to complete weekly tutorials, prepare for presentations and study for their tests and examinations. Some of them had also spent long hours on their final-year projects.

These issues got me thinking about what stress can do to a person if it is not managed carefully, and what I can do to cope with it as an NTU undergraduate.

There are many ways to do so, each with varying degrees of success.

Sometimes, I try to ?forget? my stress through temporary distraction.

I either watch copious hours of television programmes or go for shopping ?therapy?.

Other times, I would just lock myself in my room and cry my heart out.

But, in the end, I find friendship to be the most effective way of managing stress.

My friends play a huge role in helping me cope with university life.

If I were to create a top-three list of my best moments in university, I would rank the times I?d spent preparing for my examinations among the top few.

I know this sounds ironic or even weird. Shouldn?t the examination period be the most dreaded and stressful time of the semester?

Perhaps so, but it?s also the time when I look forward to being part of a caring community of friends.

Nearing and during examinations, a group of us would arrange to study together in a seminar room. As most of us live in the university?s hostels, we would study till late into the night.

Sometimes, our friends who have graduated would visit us and buy us herbal tea (so that we?d avoid falling sick while studying).

We would pen notes of encouragement, and those who belong to the same course would help each other revise their work, despite having to study for our own papers. In the midst of it all, I would still feel stressed, but ? as corny as this may sound ? I know I am not alone.

That knowledge is more than enough to pull me through my most stressful moments.

myp@sph.com.sg

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