Does the thought of sitting through an examination have you in a fit of sweat? If exams are your biggest fear or your most eminent one at present then you need to first understand what kind of exam fear you have. There are two types, the first is an inefficiency of coping with pre-exam duress and the other is having a sudden emotional attack during an exam. Both the situations require different types of coping strategies albeit many methods work equally well with both. Here are five such strategies that should help you through both types of anxiety attacks.
Stay Calm – Whether it is an exam or a simple test, some people have naturally attuned themselves to get all worked up about it. If this is the case and you plan ahead for examinations then you need to work on a few calming techniques. Methods such as counting numbers in the head when anxious and thinking of positive thoughts, all help. It is more of a personal thing. However, researchers argue that the best way to keep calm through an exam is to understand that the only thing in one’s control before and during an exam is their preparation. Once you complete an exam, forget about it as there is nothing you can do about it.
Sleep – Majority of test takers tend to stay up late through the night. Although this provides a few extra hours of preparation time, not everyone can take late night studies. Anxiety attacks at the very last moment shall wipe out anything studied late in the night. A good night’s rest before an exam is the best way to cement all that you have studied so hard throughout the week or month before.
Prepare as early as you can – Most people make the mistake of waiting for the penultimate week. Never wait till the last moment because the less time you provide yourself, the more prone you are to an anxiety attack. Always prepare before time, with a plan ahead. Chalk out items that you are comfortable with and complete them at the earliest to build momentum. Then move on to harder topics and slowly build your confidence. Probably the best way to tackle exam anxiety is through building confidence in the paper.
Visualization techniques – It is said that those who visualize the future tend to close the gap between fantasy and reality. Go to bed each night with the image of you passing the paper with flying colors. Populate your fantasy test with questions that you prepared that day and in the past. This not only serves to keep anxiety under control but also works quite well in cementing chapters that you complete on a daily basis. Stay clear from caffeine and sugar intake – Some people depend so heavily on caffeine and other such items that they get anxious when these things are not present at the exam center. Stay clear of sugar and caffeine towards the last week before exams so that the body can get used to it. Many people do not realize just how dangerous such an addiction is until they suddenly get an anxiety pang out of the lack of caffeine in their systems.