How to Deal With Exam Anxiety
If you spend
sleepless nights agonizing over exams, days or weeks before they take place,
read on.
1 Find
out what it is about exams that makes you anxious. Is
it being under-prepared, the possibility of failure, or the hype surrounding
the major exams?
2 Prepare well for the exam. Practice exam style questions and get them marked. Read over these if
you are feeling particularly anxious or daily to remind yourself how well
you're doing.
3 Ignore and avoid people that are
making predictions or complaining of failing even before the test or exam takes
place.
4 Review your notes the night before. This will leave information fresh in your memory, however if you feel
this will add more pressure then don't. For some people this works, however for
some cramming information simply makes it even more complicated.
5 Go to bed early and try using
meditation or aromatherapy to calm down.
6 The day of the exam read over your
practice questions. Breathe slowly and try to relax.
7 During the exam read the entire paper
slowly. Don't panic. Highlight what you think you'll
be able to answer. Before starting remember that you start every exam with
100%, not zero.
8 If the anxiety is
persistent and severe, talk to your guidance counselor about it. He or
she might be able to work with you to come up with strategies to overcome it.
He or she might also be able to speak to your teachers about it. If they know,
they might be willing to give you more time to take the exam, if an anxiety
attack happens to slow you down