Fastening heartbeats, difficulties while breathing and your mind goes blank! Test anxiety is a result of the stress and pressure, we youngsters upload to ourselves. Trust me, we are not solely, it is a normal feeling. Anxiety related to tests or any important action that may affect your life will subsequently lead to lapsing and controlling so many future aspects of your life. Therefore, that is what drives us to panic and think so much about this situation.
At this moment you deal with this act as the inflection point of your life and that’s the reason why we feel fearful and under stress. When it’s exam time you’re stressed, someone worrying about doing poorly might have thoughts like, “What if I forget everything I know?” or “What if the test is too hard?”
Too many thoughts like these leave no mental space for thinking about the test questions. Your brain activates a fight or flight response thinking you’re in danger, and that lapses your memory during an exam and your memory doesn’t perform its duty flawlessly – /adequately, even if you have studied and prepared well at home, things may fall apart and go off track. Causing test anxiety to intervene with your concentration and performance during test time.
It’s normal and happens to all age groups with differences in their duties and performances. For instance, People get nervous while having a work interview and various other examples, so there may be some tips to help you control your feelings before an exam:
Try to relax
Pretending that you are at home doing the exam, or think of a comfortable place you usually study in. That will aid your brain to have a feeling of safety and relaxation. Bear in mind that you have put in a lot of effort, so don’t let any nervous behaviour waste it.
Breath!
Practising a breathing technique is so beneficial to help you calm down. Without forcing it, let your breath travel as far into your abdomen as is comfortable. Practice taking in and exhaling via your nose and mouth. Inhale slowly and frequently. Some people find counting consistently from 1 to 5 to be beneficial. Initially, you might not be able to get to 5. If this helps, softly let it run out once more while counting from 1 to 5. Maintain this for a minimum of five minutes.
Test Vibes: Under Control.
Get rid of any adverse vibes and bad questions flowing into your head. Take this stress as an approach to reflect your positive thoughts. Always try to think brightly and keep in mind your aspirations, what are your potentials, and what you can do.
Go Easy On Yourself!
Remember that you don’t want to have the same odd and naïve sentiments you had the previous time you took a test. You keep blaming yourself for not paying enough attention throughout the test, for making a mistake on an easy question, etc. You don’t want to go through this process of feeling guilty again. We always make a constant effort to grow from our errors.
Self-Care.
Get enough sleep for a teen that would be 9-12 hours per 24 hours. Moreover, our brains benefit from sleep as they get ready to learn new things. We can pay better attention to fresh information that we encounter in our daily life when we are well-rested. New information will ‘stick’ better if you get enough sleep. The brain recalls memories from the previous day while you sleep, strengthening the neural connections. This increases your general concentration, which enables you to stay focused during the exam.
Manage to study and revise earlier for your exam and prevent cramming at the last minute. Theoretically, cramming the night before an exam can help you retain information for the short term. However, this may mean that you won’t create any meaningful connections to the information and won’t gain a thorough comprehension of it. Additionally, you’ll probably forget it the moment you leave the exam.
On the other hand, revising a couple of times aids in remembering the specifics of the subject you have studied. Revision gives you more confidence while attempting any related exam questions. Consequently, the chance of experiencing anxiety and worry during exams can be decreased by timely revision.
Remember you have got to control your feelings; they don’t manipulate you.