Exam Anxiety

There is no denying the fact that most people experience anxiety when it comes to tests or exams. Most people tend to have anxiety before or during exam/tests; which may later have an impact on learning and damage the performance of the test and school academics. People might become so stressed out that they are genuinely unable to perform to their full potential in circumstances when there is pressure and a good performance matters. A little bit anxiety or stress may be good to help a person perform better, but excessive anxiety may lead to interference with personal life and cause some serious problems to the health of the person experiencing it.

"test anxiety is a form of performance anxiety that is characterized by fear, worry, tension, and even feelings of physical illness in the face of taking an exam" (Cherry, 2020). It can also be defined as: "Test anxiety is a psychological condition in which people experience extreme distress and anxiety in testing situations" (Cherry, 2023).

Symptoms of Test Anxiety

The symptoms can vary from range to range, the ranges being from mild to severe. Some students can nevertheless do well on examinations while having relatively minor test anxiety symptoms. Other students experience anxiety that is almost incapacitating, which can result in subpar test performance or even panic episodes before to or during tests. The symptoms are either physical, emotional or cognitive.

The physical symptoms include:

1. Sweating
2. Shaking
3. Nausea
4. Rapid heartbeat

More severe exam anxiety can actually make kids physically unwell, while milder cases can just give them the "butterflies" in their stomach. Before an exam, some people even throw up or get sick.

The emotional symptoms include:

1. Depression
2. Distress
3. Feelings of hopelessness
4. Low self-esteem

In this state, the students may frequently feel powerless to alter their circumstances and instead degrade and criticize themselves for their symptoms and subpar test results.

The cognitive symptoms include:

1. Negative self-talk
2. Self-doubt
3. Forgetfulness
4. Fidgeting

Causes of Test Anxiety

There may be a number of factors that could contribute to the causes of anxiety inducing tests. According to research, test anxiety may be exacerbated in kids of parents who put a lot of pressure on them academically. Parents who exert this kind of pressure on their children's behavior are more likely to see their children exhibit physical symptoms of anxiety before tests and worry more about them in the lead up to and during exams.

• Failure-related anxiety: If you link your feeling of value to your exam results, the pressure you place on yourself may lead to really bad test anxiety.
• Poor test performance: If you have a poor test performance history, whether it was due to inadequate study or nervousness that prevented you from remembering the answers, this can lead to increased anxiety and a negative attitude each time you have to take a test.
• Lack of preparation: If you didn't study or didn't study well enough, this may make you feel more anxious.

However, there may be other form of causes to students' anxiety, including - Biological causes and mental causes.

1. Biological Cause - the body produces an adrenaline-like hormone while under stress, such as before and during an exam. The "fight-or-flight" response—which does this—helps the body be ready to deal with what is going to happen. Essentially, this response gets you ready to either stay and manage the stress or completely flee the circumstance. However, in the case of exam anxiety, it is not a good thing either way. But for other people, their anxiety symptoms might get out of control to the point where it's hard for them to concentrate on the test. Due to that, the symptoms of inducing anxiety may get worse.
2. Mental Causes - One crucial mental component is the expectations of the students. For instance, a student is far more likely to experience test-day anxiety if she thinks she will perform poorly on the exam. The mental cause may have a permanent effect on the body and mind. Test anxiety may also be caused by psychological elements like self-confidence and negative thoughts.

When students feel apprehensive during a test, they could become so afraid that it would happen again that they actually feel more uncomfortable during the subsequent exam. The syndrome known as "learned helplessness" occurs when pupils experience exam anxiety repeatedly and start to feel powerless to alter the circumstance.

Treatments

Self-help and therapy techniques for controlling stress levels before and during an exam are frequently used to treat test anxiety. To ensure that they have the knowledge and skills necessary to perform well on exams, students are frequently given assistance with study strategies and test-taking approaches. It might be beneficial to encourage kids to develop their test-taking confidence.

Anti-anxiety medicines may also be provided to students who have extreme anxiety or who have panic episodes in order to assist regulate these symptoms. Psychotherapy techniques including mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), exposure therapy, and cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) may also be useful in addressing test anxiety symptoms.

Other ways of handling and coping with the anxiety include - getting enough sleep, taking deep breaths, making sure you're prepared for the exam/test, and etc.

Conclusion

Overall, it might be unpleasant and distressing, test anxiety can be managed. Try using these self-help techniques to control and reduce your anxiety levels if you feel that test anxiety is affecting your capacity to perform effectively. Despite the fact that many students attempt to manage their exam anxiety on their own, there are services that might be useful. Schedule a consultation with a doctor, mental health expert, or school counselor if you or your kid require more help.

On that note, it is also better to keep calm of the moment, but if it not possible seek for help from the teachers and seek professional help - such as therapy. Aside from that, the students should not worry that much either, as they can work much harder later on; as there are many more tests and exams to come.

References:

https://www.facebook.com/verywell (2019). How to Know If You Have Test Anxiety & 7 Ways To Beat It. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/the-symptoms-of-test-anxiety-2795367 [Accessed: 9 Jun. 2023].

healthline (2017). Test Anxiety: Symptoms, Statistics, and Tips for Coping. [online] Healthline. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/test-anxiety#tips [Accessed: 9 Jun. 2023].

Cherry, K. (2010). What Is Test Anxiety? [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-test-anxiety-2795368 [Accessed: 9 Jun. 2023].