How to Overcome Test Anxiety

Here's how to overcome anxiety experienced before and during a test.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Try To Relax:
   
   Some students become very nervous even at the thought of taking a test. When the days leading up to a large test arrive, students can feel anxious, tired, scared, and panicky.

2. Find Perspective:
   
   During the morning of the test, students may feel clammy, have a racing heartbeat, and the jitters. The test suddenly seems like the most important thing in the world, even thought the student knows it isn't. Success or failure on the test is blown into the biggest event of the person's life. Put the test in perspective to major events in your life in order to see it's not that big a deal.

3. Study Well In Advance:
   
   Starting to study a few weeks before the test doesn't always end anxiety, but it helps. Test anxiety is more severe if you have to study for long periods the night before and morning of your test. That's because your normal routine has been completely replaced by cramming and you no longer have a sense of "normal reality."

4. Analyze If You Are Creating The Anxiety:
   
   A lot of people use test anxiety as a "carrot and a stick." You may be making yourself anxious because you're worried you'll fail if you don't get anxious. That's a vicious cycle, because it attributes your anxiety attacks to your success. Ask yourself if you are using anxiety as a motivational tool. If so, find a healthier way of motivating yourself.
   
   In fact, your ability to comprehend and repeat the topics and concepts you've learned is what makes you succeed in a test.

5. Take Different Courses:
   
   Think of a hard test you took where you weren't anxious at all. Chances are, it was in a subject you enjoyed learning about, even if it was so difficult other students were struggling hard and very nervous before the test.
   
   If you are nervous before every single test, it might mean you are studying a subject that isn't right for you. Maybe you'll never learn French, and you should try Spanish instead.

6. Stay Calm On Test Day:
   
   During the test, stay calm. Sit next to good students who will calmly complete, and do well in the test. Sitting next to good students always improves your performance because it's distracting to have someone get exasperated and fail right on your shoulder.
   
   Focus on each section of the test as it appears, and don't try to prepare for questions in your mind that you aren't actually working on.While you take the test, let the answers you have learned come to you naturally.