Jill McGivering BBC South Asia correspondent

Concentration levels can cause anxiety at exam time

The results will determine their future and for some the pressure is just too much.

Special hotlines are now in operation to help students cope with anxiety.

But the counsellors will also be helping parents who are often more stressed than their children.

For these teenagers, the exam results will be a big factor in getting a good college place and good career.

Competition has never been fiercer - some teachers say the pressure is far greater than it used to be.

Overwhelming

One typically anxious girl says: "We do get freaked out; lack of sleep maybe. You eat more than normal, then you feel like sleeping more, then you don't feel like sleeping at all."

Another says: "It's really hard to concentrate. You have pressure from all sides."

Exams are often taken at a young age

Around exam time, it is common for newspapers to report suicides and attempted suicides.

Susan George, the academic co-ordinator at Delhi's Father Agnel School, says the pressure can be overwhelming.

"My heart goes out to those children... a total feeling of despondency comes up and suicidal tendencies are there," she says.

Just to get admission to top schools, children have to go through rounds of interviews and tests.

Many parents, far from reassuring their children, need stress counselling themselves.

'Overplayed'

Psychiatrist Dr Achal Bhagat says memories of India's partition have left today's parents feeling very insecure.

At the last moment [students] gear up simply because there's the stress of the exams. It's a normal phenomenon Father Jose Carvalho

"They're worried about success. We're still working from a deprived nation's perspective where opportunities are limited and there's that need to succeed and for the other person not to succeed," Dr Bhagat says.

"There's a lot of paranoia among the parents as well."

But not everyone is sympathetic.

School principal Father Jose Carvalho says the issue is overplayed.

Most students, he says, need to be stressed to get any work done.

The battle for good schools starts early

"A lot of students are not motivated during the year, take it very easy, but at the last moment they gear up simply because there's the stress of the exams. It's a normal phenomenon," Father Carvalho says.

Some of the more confident students can make fun of it too.

One boy says: "I've started talking to myself if that can be taken as a sign, but apart from that I'm quite normal."

But for others, the overwhelming anxiety is not only not funny, it can lead to acute depression, even suicide.

Counterproductive

Several help lines have been introduced in the past few years to support students - and stop potential suicides.

Counsellor Ranu Tandon says high levels of stress are counterproductive.

Ms Tandon says it cannot be healthy when stress affects concentration, ability to study, even sleep.

The students go into exams unable to answer questions because of fear of failure, she says.

Among India's myriad problems, exam stress may be lower on the agenda than poverty and disease.