Test Taking Anxiety Is Common – But You Can Learn To Conquer It

July 31st, 2010 Posted in Mental Health

Test Taking Anxiety challenges many students, but can develop into a big problem when it hurts your performance on critical exams.

Many students find taking tests to be extremely stressful. It’s not uncommon at all to feel nervous during exam times and the more important the exam, the bigger the stress. Some test taking anxiety is natural and extremely typical for everyone as long as the anxiety doesn’t prevent you from performing well on tests that are essential to you.

Anxiety is a actually a natural response to pressure that all people feel. On the upside, test taking anxiety can work as a powerful motivator and encourage you to study harder than you would if you felt no anxiety at all. On the other hand, anxiety becomes a problem when it causes you much distress and hinders your abiltiy to achieve your best. If you find your anxiety level is hurting your ability to perform on significant tests such as college entrance exams or driving tests, it may be time to seek help for your anxiety.

How do you know if you have a average level of nervousness, or do you have a more severe form of test taking anxiety?

Think back to the last crucial test you took and consider how many of the following anxiety symptoms you experienced before and/or during the test.

-Physical Symptoms such as headaches, nausea, or diarrhea, extreme body temperature changes, extreme sweating, shortness of breath, light-headed or fainting, heart racing, muscle tension or a dry mouth

Feeling Emotional – intense feelings of insecurity, disappointment, anger, depression or nervous laughing, crying

-Tension in Your Body – fidgeting, pacing, tempted to use something (drugs or alcohol) to calm you or wanted to avoid the test altogether

-Mental Symptoms – racing thoughts, mind goes blank, difficulty concentrating, negative self-talk, feelings of dread, negatively comparing yourself to others, difficulty organizing your thoughts.

If you experienced many of these symptoms to a severe enough degree to negatively affect your ability to do well on your test, you may need treatment for test taking anxiety.

What causes Test Anxiety and why do some suffer while other people are able to stay relaxed?

While there are several causes of anxiety, some general reasons to be anxious before a test are a lack of preparation, tired from last minute cramming the night before or other poor study habits, as well as poor time management. Other reasons for test anxiety can be related to other forms of anxiety and stress. Are you going through a extremely stressful time in your life in general? Do you experience other forms of anxiety…panic attacks, trouble sleeping, appetite changes or difficulty with depression?

You may suffer additional test anxiety than normal when you are experiencing a lot of stress in general. Some people are more nervous by nature and have a tendency to be more susceptible to test taking anxiety as well as other anxiety disorder symptoms.

Regardless of whether you have continually felt extreme anxiety around taking tests, or you are struggling through a distressing time in your life, there are things you can do now to get your anxiety under control and enhance your performance on significant tests. 

Discover how to conquer your test taking anxiety now and sign up for a Free Mini-Course Anxiety Answers for immediate relief.