Exams in life never end: high school diploma, driving license, university, competitions, promotions, and so forth. No matter how many you have already passed, exam stress may show up sooner or later.
Understanding the stress
First thing first, you should learn to recognize the stress.
Stress is a natural response of our body to a variety of environmental changes or challenges. When your body activates a stress response, you may experience different symptoms. The most common are sweating, increased heart rate, sleep problems, anxiety, negative thoughts, lack of concentration.
Before the exam, some symptoms may also occur, such as insomnia or some digestive problems.
The symptoms that occur immediately before and during the test are what that the vast majority of people associate with exam anxiety. They are also the most “natural”: sweating, palpitations, dry mouth, nausea, etc. During the exam, there is another symptom, one of the most feared by students: the so-called black-out. No matter how hard you have studied, in front of the Professor or the page, you simply forget everything. Sounds familiar? Don’t worry, in the strategies section, we will also talk about the best techniques to use immediately before or during the exam, to manage anxiety and avoid the notorious blackouts.
After the exam, perhaps the fear is gone, but you still may face some consequences, especially if the anxiety during the test has done damage: here then you may feel angry, unmotivated, and often with lower self-esteem.
To reduce the anxiety associated with preparing for an exam, many students adopt behaviors they are not always fully aware of. Examples are the compulsive use of the internet, the change of sleeping habits, or looking for less important tasks to do. In general, in these moments the serial procrastinator in us comes out (we talked about procrastination in a previous article).
As shown by some studies, the emotions felt by different students can vary and are closely related to the level of motivation, study method, self-discipline, etc. So, what can you do to reduce anxiety?
Plan
To manage exam anxiety, you should improve your ability to organize. Some research confirms that exam anxiety occurs especially when a person does not give himself time. If you decide to take an exam just five days in advance, your anxiety level will probably increase. During those five days, you won’t be able to think or do anything other than studying or preparing for the upcoming test. It is precisely this inability to manage time that causes distress. On the other hand, if you decide to prepare for the exam a little in advance, you can create a nice program with steps and deadlines to be met, so that you arrive prepared and much more relaxed the day before the exam.
Don’t neglect your needs
Before taking an important exam, you cannot think of living for that alone, upsetting your rhythms at the expense of your needs. To arrive with a clear mind on the day of the exam, try to keep the same healthy habits that you usually have.
How to manage not to give up anything or almost? Simple, try to implement the pre-exam organization. Any leisure activity (sport, or a walk, or just relaxing moments in which to laugh and joke with some friends) allows your body to produce hormones such as serotonin, or endorphins in the case of sport, which reduces the feeling of stress. Less stress, less anxiety. Also, do not abuse coffee or other actuating substances. They will disturb your normal sleep-wake cycle.
Prepare for the exam
Remember all the bureaucracy requirements and do them beforehand (exam registration, documents, or assessments to provide). Don’t study all night before the exam. You will be too tired to perform at your best. Do something relaxing instead, plan something with your friends or your family. Do not talk with anxious students right before the exam, stress is contagious!
During the exam, take your time to read all the questions and define the time you need for each question. This way, you will be able to manage your time at the best. Don’t forget to bring some water and breathe correctly during the test. Get rid of negative thoughts like “I’m not prepared enough” “I don’t know the answer”, move to positive thoughts, like “I did my best” and go back to the paper. Negative thoughts will just distract your mind and are not useful during a test.
Last but not least, I promised to tell you how to deal with the infamous blackout. A blackout is a temporary block in access to the information. If you studied it, the information is still there. So, first thing first do not panic. Take a minute to think about something else. If you are answering a test, go to the next question. If it’s an oral test, ask for a minute, drink something, look somewhere else to reset your brain. Don’t stop and start thinking too much about it. The more you will try to overcome the block, the more it will be hard to access the information. Go back to the question after a while. You will see, the block will be probably gone.
