DEAL WITH EXAM ANXIETY BEFORE IT DEALS WITH YOU

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When we think about exam anxiety, we think about what happens while we are actually writing an exam–choking, freezing, unable to think, to recall. However, there’s an article in last week’s BPS Research Digest that points toward the effect that exam anxiety can have weeks before exam week: Exam anxiety can reduce the effectiveness of studying for those exams.

Thinking about that and recalling my students’ rising angst in these last weeks, I’d have to agree. If you find yourself procrastinating as your study process devolves into thoughts of everything that can go wrong in the exam, thinking of all of the negative “what if . . .” scenarios, then of course you are going to be less enthusiastic about studying, and are going to be less focussed and less effective when you do get down to work.

Some tips:

  • If this is you, first thing, know that you are in a lot of company. Accept that some concern is pretty normal, not fun, but pretty normal. Take advantage of this fact by scheduling study time with your study buddies (that also helps deal with the procrastination factor).
  • Make use of campus counselling and learning centre resources. The fact that they may be heavily booked just now tells you that, yes, it’s a trying time for many students.
  • Before your next study session, sit down with your course material, and chunk out the material. What do you know well? What are your challenge areas?
  • Sketch out the worst case of what can happen on the exam, and what you will do if it does. You have a plan.
  • Take the long view–how much does your performance on a quiz in Grade Six matter today? That is likely how much your score on any particular test will matter ten years from now.
  • Look at your past pattern on exams in the course–what did you do well? Where did you not do well? How are you doing to deal with the problem types of questions if they are on the exam again? Not how will you ace them, just how will you deal with them better than you did last time. 
  • Beware of slipping into past less effective habits, which is easy to do when our mind is processing anxiety. If you catch yourself just reading and rereading the material, give yourself a pat on the back for catching that, and move toward using the more effective ways of engaging with the material that we have talked about.
  • When you catch yourself distracted by fearful thoughts, endorse yourself for catching the anxiety–sometimes humour helps. Then refocus. It may be a case of wash, rinse, repeat several times, but that beats the alternative.
  • And the go-to for getting anything done: schedule, schedule flexibly, reinforce for effort, and build in small, frequent rewards.

It’s not always fun, but you can really keep down the effect that exam anxiety has on you before you are even into exam week.

I’m talking about a workmanlike approach, not a Grande Diva approach. Although come to think of it, even a Diva keeps the thought of stage fright far from their mind while they’re doing their practice sessions.

You can do this! Connect with me for planning and getting through these last weeks before exams: [email protected] 

The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS PLEASE DIAL 911.