Defeat Your Exam Anxiety Once And For All

By Allie Mitchell on September 13, 2016

We all know what that dread of having to take an exam feels like.

Whether or not you are prepared for it, no one ever just feels oh so overjoyed to take it. You could have studied all night or have been studying for weeks and you still feel the nerves kick in. The moment you wake up, you may feel good about the information, you get ready to head to your test and then on the way there you start to go over the information in your head again and you start to panic because you think you are forgetting things.

Then when you get to your test, once it is in front of you, the words just don’t make sense on the page or you read the question over and over and you know that the answer is something you looked at numerous times, but it just is not coming to you. So you panic and you can’t think straight.

Those with test taking anxiety feel this all the time, but even those that don’t feel the same way on occasion, especially when the test is something on a bigger scale, like the MCAT or the GRE. This article is set to help you learn how to defeat your exam anxiety or maybe just subdue it for at least the test time purpose.

Understanding how to properly calm yourself down and have the right skills to remain in the right head space can do wonders for you and your head. You will do much better on your tests if you feel confident about the information you studied. Here are some small things that can help you make a big change when it comes to eliminating exam anxiety altogether.

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1. Get some sleep: The number one rule of test taking is to get a good nights’ sleep, especially for a test that could determine your next steps in life. Go to bed earlier than you normally would, so you can wake up fully rested and ready for the day. If you wake up early enough, you could get some morning study time in as well.

Getting some good night’s rest will do you wonders when it comes to your test because you don’t want to fall asleep during it.

 2. Don’t overstudy: Overstudying can honestly overload your brain. Yes, you should study the information, ALL OF IT, but there comes a point when you should take a break. Go get a snack, watch some TV, surf the internet, etc. Don’t lose sight of the goal and do these things the whole day, but make sure you aren’t shoving information into your brain.

The human brain can handle so much information regardless, but I believe that if you force the information in there, well when you get to your test, what happens isn’t pretty.

3. Don’t listen to others: This is one that I do myself. Whether you are waiting to take a test or coming out of a test, don’t look to others for information unless you for certain are sure you want to know what the answer is. If you studied a good amount and feel good, but you overhear one of your classmates saying something different about something you are sure is wrong, you start to doubt yourself.

So put in some headphones and just wait for your test to start, so at least then there is pure silence, or at least there should be.

4. Pace yourself: Don’t try to be the last one to finish — never a good move. And don’t think about it too much if you are the last person to finish. Your teacher just wants you to do well anyway. Just remember if you don’t know an answer to skip it and move on to the next. Or take a deep breath and think about it. You know you know the answer, so go with your gut; you are much smarter than you think you are.

5. Treat yourself: You took a huge test! Settle your anxiety and celebrate with something you love to do, whether that is sleeping, hanging out with friends or, I don’t know, eating. DO IT! You just did something that was amazing and you deserve to let loose and have a life. You can worry about the rest another day.

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Test taking can drain a person; it can ultimately make you a braindead student if you let it get to you. Test taking anxiety can ruin your whole perspective on your intelligence because your anxiety makes it seem like you are not smart enough or you can’t remember enough, but you can.

The ultimate tip would be to take a deep breath, look in the mirror, and say I CAN DO THIS.

And then well, you do it. 

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