Exam Anxiety Attending college and just having a life can cause lots of problems to happen in your body. If there were any problem that I should be worried about, it would have to be, my exam anxiety. Test of exam anxiety is a type of anxiety disorder that can affect a test taker before, during, or after a test. This is a problem that many college students deal with at one time or another. Signs of anxiety include: lightheadedness, butterflies, heart pounding, worrying about failing and even crying.
I have experienced two to three of those towards the end of every course when the finals start happening. When I first started brainstorming for this paper and was in the process of picking my details, I actually started thinking about my exams coming up. I have procrastinated and I guess have been throwing them off and now its down to the wire. The anxiety has started to hit me. The factors that I have come up with I think are what have caused my exam anxiety and maybe can help you notice yours. Working while attending college is a big role player.
Being at work already takes out a big chunk of my free time, leaving me very little for studying. When I work, it’s either a ten to six shift or a five p. m. to one a. m. shift. One would ask there self in my position, am I in the mood or even awake enough to crash study for an exam at one in the morning? Trying to study at work is very annoying. Once I crack my book and take out my notes, someone wants to order pizza. I work at Papa Johns by the way. It’s impossible for the reason that there are a lot of things going on, it causes me to lose my concentration and focus.
Not to mention, even if I do get a good thirty minutes to study, sometimes the material is too difficult for me to fully understand. Another factor that hits hard with my exam or test anxiety is missing previous classes because of an illness, or lacking sleep. Missing those classes is causing a big blank in the middle of my studying material. I remember walking into my last International class, having missed the class before, about to take an exam, and I felt extremely under prepared.
I was thinking to myself, if I had just slept more during the week, I wouldn’t have missed the study session for that exam, and would be guaranteed an A. The worst thing I think that causes the most anxiety is having several exams at once. Not only are you worrying about that English test that you have to write 10 short essays on, but also that History test with 100 multiple choice. It’s very frustrating; I remember having a final in my high school History class, and as I was looking over the test, and just started freaking out.
I kept thinking about how I didn’t know the answer, and that I was going to fail. I call it the Fear of Failure. When you have several exams in one day, it makes it harder when you don’t know what type of tests they are. Essays are pretty difficult because you don’t know if the reader likes what you’re writing about. Trying to remember three different kinds of material from many different subjects is the most stressful thing I can think of. After living with my exam anxiety all throughout school, now I plan on fighting back. Or should I say, fighting fire with fire.
For my future exams I plan on avoiding negative thoughts and focusing on the positive. The best defense is a good offense, and its best if you just don’t fight it, just study and take part in all study sessions. Join a study group, get some tutoring and just compare and share your notes. Before your next test, find out how the test will be structured, how many true or false, multiple choice, or even essay questions. Always try your best and just stay optimistic. I’m going to try out my own tips and successfully in the future, finish my college education.
