Stationed in an examination hall that resembles a torture cell, your brain certainly freezes. “I can’t do this”. Such negative thoughts start to stuff your head. Does your heart race quickly, or do you find it challenging to take a breath during examinations? Or something like you’ve been studying for a particular subject for the whole month, and you feel numb while giving your exam. You feel blank; you’ll notice your sweaty hands and a trap in your stomach as you sit to start your test.
If these signs occur, do not worry; these grades won’t decide your future. They can’t even underscore the significance your abilities.
What is exam anxiety/test anxiety?
Examination anxiety is the event of feeling a severe panic attack or fear before and during an exam or test. While experiencing anxiety before a test is standard, some students find it traumatizing. Racing impulses, failure to focus, or sensations of stress may be associated with clinical signs such as a fast pulse, pain, or nausea.
Now there are two kinds of anxiety that students face during the exam. Students with low anxiety may feel very anxious regarding an impending test. However, they may still be able to concentrate on their research or the questions they ask during the exam. Students with high anxiety show an acute distress response when subjected to the feared exam scenario. By not turning up to the test, they seek an escape to the situation or can survive it, though with intense fear.
The task is to know whether your anxiety has risen above an acceptable point and it starts impacting your capacity to finish the test; this is a high degree of anxiety.
Some high-anxiety physical reactions include a speeding heart, wet hands, shortness of breath or quick breath, and feeling nauseous.
How staying Calm works
It’s proven that our capacity to think logically is hindered when we are anxious. We act more innately, as anxiety is always associated with a threat from the human mind, and we fall right into the mode of sustainability. The reaction to the fight or flight may have kept us alive for decades, but in an examination room, it probably didn’t help much. Staying calm helps you when you reach such a situation.
Instead of taking instinctual and gut-based choices, while you’re calm and relaxed, you spend the effort to be rational and analyze all the knowledge you have before making a judgment. The type of problems posed in an evaluation paper is structured to check your capacity to remember, your understanding of the subject, your ability to think objectively,
Here are some of the tips you can always follow to get rid of exam tension and anxiety.
Reach your examination site a bit early
Feeling hurried only raises the tension levels. Pack up all the essentials, the night before your exam and set the alarm so that you can leave your house on time. When you reach your examination hall, sit on your seat for a while, and observe.
Read your question paper clearly
Thoroughly read the instructions and read all the responses before making a decision or beginning the writing. Identify the questions you want to address first. After having read through the test paper thoroughly, if you still feel very anxious, then start with the problems you consider simple that will help you calm down and make you more comfortable in answering the tougher questions.
Keep your eye on the clock
Time management skills are the secret to staying confident and in charge during your test. This does not mean rushing through the paper but instead trying to make sure you leave sufficient time to properly focus on the tougher questions so that you can answer them to the best possible standard. Mentally assign how much time you spend in each segment. Now is the time to review our paper, even smartly.
Stay positive
It’s easy to think adversely when you feel that the exam isn’t going well, but that’s just going to make you more frustrated, and maybe you’re completely overwhelmed. Start swapping the pessimistic feelings with positive ones. For starters, instead of saying, “I’m never going to do it with all these things,” consider saying, “If I tackle every problem one by one, I’m going to be able to get through it.
Relax
When you feel agitated, take some time to close your eyes, stretch out, and deep breaths. Get back to a calm mental state. Slow breathing can slow down a pulse or a speeding mind, so perform such exercises at home. The very act of focusing on breathing and thinking can electronically alter these anxious feelings.
This exam may not be the turning point of your life. If you haven’t planned properly and you manage to lose, there will generally be an opportunity to rewrite the exam. Remembering this when writing may help you remain calm.
Do not Compare
Know you are alone in this war. And that everybody fights a different battle and they all fight for themselves. Never equate your grades with those of your mates or colleagues who took the exam. Peer pressure is one of the main reasons why thousands of students drop out of schools and universities annually. It leads to higher levels of anxiousness, so avoiding it is a necessity.
You are not a perfectionist
The awful feeling in the stomach’s pit cannot go away except with planning, relaxation, and exercise. How do you find anything less appalling? Don’t presume to be in a spot to figure out each and every question of the exam. Often, it’s not easy to solve complicated problems because time is insufficient.
Don’t overdo the fact that you couldn’t crack that one impossible code. Accept your level of effort and give your best.
We hope that these tips will help you overcome your anxiety the next time you appear in the exam.
You did an amazing job Mahnoor. This article is really helpful . Looking forward to more content from you 🙂