5 Ways to Keep Exam Anxiety Away - Tips and Advice
Many students are feeling stressed during their exams. It has become common that Students are distressed, frightened, and uneasy during their study period. In today’s fast-moving world, everybody is fighting their own professional and personal battle due to which stress has become very common in youth. The study has shown that approximately 80% of college students are experiencing some sort of anxiety. Students are facing different challenges like social anxiety, online learning challenges, exam anxiety, and panic attacks.
A little nervousness about your exams is fine and it can help you perform well in your exam. Although when the stress has become out of control and you could not concentrate on your studies it can be very dangerous to your mental health and studies as well. That is the reason students are seeking help from others to take my exam for me because I am frightened and distressed. The mental health of students is affecting their studies and they are not able to focus on their exams.
Students face a high level of anxiety during their exams, it can become dangerous when your anxiety impeded your ability to attend or perform in your exams. In this blog, I will discuss and explain exam anxiety, its symptoms, its causes, and strategies that how to Keep Exam Anxiety Away. So if you are dealing with stress, and anxiety and looking for the answer keep on reading the blog.
What is exam anxiety?
Before understanding exam anxiety we need to know what actually anxiety is. Anxiety is a feeling of fear, uneasiness, or wordiness, it can be mild or severe. Extensive anxiety and panic lead to anxiety disorder which is a mental health issue and affects your physical being as well.
Although exam anxiety is defined as a psychological condition where students are feeling extreme stress and fear before, during, and after exam time. Exam anxiety also becomes very problematic when it continues over and over again with high intensity and starts affecting your academic performance. Students start to feel pressure and become anxious that they will not be able to perform well in their exams or tests. In these situations, students get online help and hire someone to take my class on their behalf.
Symptoms of exam Anxiety
Symptoms of exam anxiety vary from person to person, from mild to severe. Some students experience mild anxiety and stress but still manage to perform well in their exams. On the other hand, some students feel extensive anxiety and face panic attacks before or during their exams. According to medical research symptoms of anxiety can be determined through physical, behavioral, and emotional responses.
Physical symptoms
Physical symptoms include different unusual actions such as shaking, a fast heartbeat, sweating, nausea, fainting, and dry mouth during the exam period. These physical symptoms could be mild but sometimes they can also cause vomiting, nausea, headache, and diarrhea.
Behavioral Symptoms
Behavioral symptoms are a common way to identify your anxiety level, in this situation, students’ behavior starts changing and they avoid attending their classes, skipping their lectures or they can also drop out few courses. Behavioral changes occur due to the fear of the environment, future, teacher, or exam pressure. While facing such Behavioral anxiety symptoms students are unable to appear in their classes and ask friends to take my class for me or mark my attendance.
Emotional Symptoms
Emotional symptoms are the most dangerous symptoms because they can cause mental disorders. Anxious students feel fear, depression, anger, low self-esteem, and hopelessness. During the exams students fear what happens when they perform badly in exams, they got failed, their parents would be disappointed and they could not make their careers. All these questions arise and make them depressed about the exams.
Causes of exam anxiety
Various causes trigger exam anxiety. It can be due to peer pressure, family pressure, perfectionism, past exam experience, or fear of failure, etc. for some students it can be only one reason which is causing anxiety such as pressure from parents. But for some students, it can be the combination of different reasons which makes them anxious. Below I will discuss some causes of exam anxiety.
Fear of failure
Usually students fear losing or failure, when you connect your self-worth with the level of grades and score you want to achieve can make you anxious. Students fear that they might not be able to perform well or secure good grades in their exams. They have fear in their mind that they can also fail the exam and disappoint themselves.
Pressure from parents
Another common cause of anxiety is pressure from parents and peer groups. Some parents constantly pressurize their kids to get good grades or compare their kids to others which makes them more anxious during the exam. Moreover, some students compete with their friends or classmates in their studies, which put extra pressure and increases their anxiety.
Bad exam experience
Another reason which triggers anxiety is the bad experience of the past exam. When students failed or got bad grades in past exams, it always haunts them and makes them fearful of their present exams situation.
Lack of preparation
Some students prepare for their exams the whole year and some do eleventh-hour study for exams. Studies show that when students could not prepare for their exams can get easily be stressed full. Other students who studied the whole year can also be anxious because of the high expectations and efforts they have already put in.
High expectations
Students or their parents sometimes set very high expectations of themselves. High expectation of securing 90% or getting the first position in your exam leads to developing stress and caused anxiety.
Catastrophizing
It is a situation where students think that what happen if they fail their exams. They put themselves in the worst-case scenario and put irrelevant pressure. Students start assuming if they failed the exams, their parents would be disappointed or they might not able to get admission to their favorite institution or they could not secure a job in the future.
Five Strategies to Reduce Exam Anxiety
A little nervousness before an exam is normal and can help sharpen your mind and focus your attention. But with exam anxiety, feelings of worry and self-doubt can interfere with your exam performance and make you miserable. So what you can do to overcome your exam anxiety, here are some strategies to Reduce Exam Anxiety and I’ll be discussing five ways to keeps your anxiety away during exams.
Early exam preparation
Exams are stress full period, so when you start preparing them in the early stages they will not pile up. Students should try to start preparing for their exams from time to time so the work will be divided and less stressed full at end of the semester. You will be more relaxed and confident that you have already prepared for exams.
Do Meditation and Avoid perfectionism
During exams stress is already at its peak. Students should do meditation and relaxation techniques to calm down themselves. Perform different meditation techniques such as deep breathing, and muscle relaxation or do imagination therapy of achieving good grades.
Being a perfectionist is just a lie and trap. We all are humans and we all make mistakes. Do not expect yourself to be perfect. You should focus on working hard and giving your best. This is all that matters and not being perfect.
Counseling from psychologist and teachers
The professional and medical way to deal with your exam anxiety is by consulting a psychologist or psychotherapist. You can talk to your doctor about your feelings, emotions, and behavior. Counselors help students to overcome their anxiety levels and provide useful suggestions to minimize it. There are many online psychologists available whom you can pay to do my online class on psychotherapy anxiety and overcoming your stress.
Understands everything about your exams from the teacher, what is the pattern, what syllabus needs to be covered, how long would be the duration etc. also inform your teacher about your anxiety and ask for their suggestions. This way, you may feel relaxed and confident.
Sleep well and proper diet
To appear and perform well in exams your body needs rest. Students should take proper sleep before exams and give rest their brains as well. Students are humans, not robots, sleep is a necessity for their bodies, and cannot function properly without it. That is also the reason your body behaves abnormally and produces adrenaline hormone in an excess amount which triggers anxiety.
Another important strategy to cope with anxiety is to develop a healthy diet during exams. Students usually forgot eating food during their exams. But your brain needs the energy to remember everything and food is the fuel of your brain and body. Avoid having caffeine and sugary food because it can increase anxiety levels.
Stop negative or overthinking
The biggest reason for anxiety is negative or overthinking. Students should not focus on their negative thoughts such as I am not good at exams, I have not studied enough, I know nothing, or I can’t give exams. These are the negative thoughts that lead to making students anxious and fearful on exam day. Students should stop over think and push their negative thoughts away. And replace them with positive thinking such as I can do this, I have studied hard or I can crack it. It can help you manage your anxiety during exams.
Conclusion
These are some strategies that will help you how to keep exam anxiety away from you during your exams. These days all sort of information is available on the internet, you can also take help from different online platforms read articles, connect with other students and study online about your exam material. Hopefully, you find this post useful to overcome the exam anxiety. If you liked it, be sure to check out other blogs as well (links in references).
