Test anxiety is experienced by students of all ages. Students often feel the pressure to perform well in order to reach their goals and please their family, teachers, or employers. This pressure can result in feeling overwhelmed, paralyzed, nervous, and doubtful of your own abilities. If you’ve ever experienced sweaty palms, a racing heart, or the feeling of your mind going blank before a test, you’re not alone. The good new is that there are skills that help to manage and overcome test anxiety!
Before we get into helpful skills, let’s first talk about what test anxiety is and what it can look like. Test anxiety is characterized by intense feeling of nervousness or fear before or during an exam. It can range from mild worry thoughts to full-blown panic attacks. Test anxiety can impact your ability to remember and recall information, making it more difficult to perform to the best of your abilities.
Common Test Anxiety Symptoms:
Physical: Shortness of breath, racing heart, sweaty palms, hot/cold flashes, headaches, upset stomach, shallow breathing, dizziness, fatigue, crying, shaking
Emotional: Nervous, irritable, fear of failure, helpless, hopeless, sadness
Cognitive: Racing thoughts, negative self talk, difficulty concentrating, unable to recall information, forgetfulness, trying to predict the future, “what ifs”
Behavioral: Avoidance of school work or studying, procrastination, poor time management, misuse of social media, skipping meals or snacks, not staying hydrated, not getting a full night sleep, skipping class or school, leaving test unfinished, and not taking time to read questions fully.
Being able to identify the symptoms of test anxiety is the first step to overcoming them.
Six causes of test anxiety
Pressure to perform:
You may notice when getting ready for a test that you feel the pressure to do your best not just for yourself, but also for others. There are expectations placed on you by your school, by your parents, by your job. You also want to do well in order to achieve your own goals, such as college or promotion.
Lack of preparation:
Sometimes, you’re just not as prepared as you would like to be for a test. Perhaps you thought you had studied enough and upon getting the test you noticed it wasn’t. Perhaps life got in the way and you weren’t able to dedicate the time needed to prepare for a test.
Past negative experiences:
When you experience anxiety, that anxiety tends to pull on past experiences that support the current fear. When you’re struggling with test anxiety, you’re probably also thinking about the times where tests have been hard or you haven’t gotten the grade you wanted. The memories of these past negative experiences come back to haunt you when preparing to take a test.
Perfectionism:
You may notice that all or nothing thinking really gets in the way of studying. Often, this all or nothing thinking goes hand-in-hand with perfectionism. You may feel trapped in needing to know everything or getting a perfect score.
Test format or environment:
Someone who experiences test anxiety, may not have that anxiety for all tests. Sometimes this has to do with the format of the test or where you take the test. An example of this might be that you struggle less with a multiple-choice test and more with an essay test. Another example would be taking a test in a testing center might cause more anxiety than taking a test in a classroom.
Other mental health concerns:
You are a complex, wonderful human and wherever you go there you are. Unfortunately, this means that sometimes mental health concerns can play off of each other. Struggling with an eating disorder or trauma makes life harder. Life being harder can lead to other symptoms like test anxiety.
Managing test anxiety
The number one symptom of test anxiety is often avoidance, feeling paralyzed. Many of the skills to help manage test anxiety are action-oriented and directly address avoidance, as well as challenging unhelpful thinking styles. So let’s talk about six things you can do to help manage your test anxiety.
1. Preparation is Key
Ensure that you are well prepared to boost your confidence and soothe your nerves.
- Time management: Keep a calendar and break down big assignments into smaller chunks with your own due dates. Importantly, managing your schedule and work load helps decrease anxiety and allows you to schedule in study time before a big test.
- Learn how to learn: Figure out how you learn best and use it! Do you need to make flashcards? Or listen to a lecture? Watch a video? Review notes? There are lots of different ways to learn!
- Grow from what hasn’t worked: Review past tests. Change study habits that haven’t helped. Try studying at different times of day or in different locations.
2. Relaxation and mindfulness
Calm your body and mind before and during the test.
- Breathe: Calming your body through your breath is incredibly effective, but takes practice. Try out some different breathing techniques and figure out which one works best for you. One of our favorites is square breathing: breathing for four, hold for four, breathe out for four, hold for four, repeat.
- Progressive muscle relaxation: Becoming aware of and having control over different muscles in your body can lead to feeling empowered and relaxed. Practice progressive muscle relaxation by purposefully tensing and releasing a muscle. Practice progressive muscle relaxation by telling different muscles to relax and notice the felt difference. You can also watch your favorite YouTube video of progressive muscle relaxation if you need guidance.
- Visualization and meditation: The easiest way to engage in visualization or meditation is through listening. Furthermore, there are tons of apps and videos that can help guide you through a relaxing visualization meditation. Try some out!
3. Challenge negative thoughts
Your anxiety thoughts won’t just go away. You have to do something about it.
- Fact checking: Let’s get logical about the situation. What are the facts and can they refute the anxiety beliefs?
- Stop sign: We can often see that our thoughts aren’t helpful. When they pop up, imagine a stop sign and tell those thoughts to stop.
- Be positive, even if you’re faking it: Replace every negative thought with a positive one (even if you don’t believe it). This practice helps you form new, more helpful neuronal networks.
4. Take Breaks
Your mind and body need breaks.
- Stretching: It’s important at least once an hour that you’re standing and stretching, getting the blood flowing and easing tension in tight muscles.
- Resting your brain: Be sure to take small breaks from studying by doing something enjoyable, but be careful of phone use.
5. Sleep and nutrition
You can’t be successful unless you are meeting your basic needs.
- Prioritize sleep: The night before the test you need 7 to 9 hours of good quality sleep (and really every night).
- Sleep hygiene: Develop a solid nighttime routine and use it… every night.
- Energy: You need to eat regularly to give our body energy. Make sure you’re getting 3 meals and 2 to 3 snacks a day to perform at your best.
- Hydration: Drink plenty of water. Moreover, be careful of caffeine intake as the effects of caffeine can mimic symptoms of anxiety.
6. Pace yourself
Time is not your enemy when taking the test.
- Centering: At the beginning of the test, take a moment to give yourself a peptalk and take a few deep breaths. Practice starting your test in a hopeful, positive mindset.
- Reading: Read each question carefully with the goal of understanding versus going fast.
- Planning: Flip through the test to get a sense of how long the test might take. Then, try to give yourself time markers of when to finish a certain number of questions to help you stay on track with time management
When to reach out for help
It is normal to have occasional test anxiety. However, if you are experiencing test anxiety regularly or test anxiety is impacting your performance, then it’s probably time to reach out for help. Working with a therapist allows you to develop a toolbox to challenge your anxiety and build confidence in your test-taking abilities. We are happy to help you find relief from your test anxiety.
We’re psychotherapists in Weschester, NY.
Visit our homepage at: www.couragepsych.com
