|
DO I HAVE TEST ANXIETY? Ask yourself these questions:
- Do I know the material well enough when I take a test?
- Do I get so anxious during tests that my concentration suffers?
- Do I go blank and find myself unable to recall material I
know?
- Do I work so fast that I make silly mistakes or misread questions?
- Does anxiety often interfere with my performance so much
that my grade does not reflect how well I really know
the material?
If you answered "No" to number one, you do not have test anxiety. You
have anxiety that is realistic, either because you are not studying enough or
because you are trying to learn material that is too difficult or too advanced
for you.
If you answered "Yes" to number one and "No" to the rest
of these questions, you do not have test anxiety.
If you answered "Yes" to number one and "Yes" to any of the
others, you have test anxiety.
WHAT IS ANXIETY?
Anxiety is a reaction that occurs when we perceive ourselves to
be in danger, either from a physical threat or from an evaluation
by others. Anxiety expresses
itself in two general ways: physically and mentally. Some people mostly
get physical manifestations, some people mostly get mental manifestations,
and
some people
get both.
Physical Symptoms Include: shaking
or trembling, sweating, increased heart rate, nausea, tense muscles
and diarrhea. These occur
because
of the adrenalin
in
your system which your body has provided in order to deal with the danger.
Since you
aren't running away or fighting, the adrenalin has to get used up somehow,
and these symptoms result.
The symptoms do not mean that you are weak, fearful or somehow a bad
person. They only mean that your body is going about the business of
burning off
excess adrenalin. Most importantly, research has shown that this expression
of anxiety
does not significantly interfere with your ability to do well on a test.
Mental Symptoms Include: going blank and
having racing thoughts. "Going
blank" refers
to those times when your mind refuses to recognize or recall material
during a test, but readily recognizes or recalls it before or after
the test. This situation,
obviously, does interfere with your ability to do well on a test.
Students who go blank during a test are painfully aware of what is
happening.
Going Blank -
All of the strategies and techniques described in this paper can
be useful in helping yourself to avoid going blank, and in coping
with it if it
does happen.
Going blank is the mind's effort to handle a situation that is
perceived as extremely disturbing or threatening. Your mind is
much less likely
to do this
when you
maintain a sensible perspective.
In general, it is important to restrain yourself from exaggerating
the importance of a test or the impact its results will have.
Most tests
have only a miniscule
effect on the overall course of one's life.
Racing Thoughts -
Students who experience "racing thoughts" during a test
are much less likely to be aware of the problem and how it is interfering
with their ability
to do well. "Racing thoughts" refers to those times
when your brain is going a hundred miles an hour with the
effort to recall
everything you studied,
apply it to the test questions, look for tricks, search for
information or meanings you might have overlooked, question
your answers, read
as rapidly as possible,
worry about your grade, worry about others who have somehow
finished already and are leaving, work even faster so you
can get done before
time runs out, and
so forth.
Suggested Techniques and Strategies
that you can use to cope with test anxiety:
- Prepare. Know the material well.
- Do not over-study.
Once you know the material, do not raise your anxiety level
by obsessing over it for days and nights on
end.
- Avoid caffeine before the test.
- Slow down. Use the breathing technique to help when your mind
is racing.
- Plan on not knowing. Avoid setting yourself up by expecting
to know absolutely every answer to every question.
- Do the easiest questions first.
- Read carefully, so you are sure you answer the question
that is being asked.
- Patience. When an answer won't come immediately
to mind, relax, have patience and don't force
it.
- Avoid distractions:
- Use self-talk and visual images that enhance,
not those that create anxiety.
- Work at a steady, productive pace. Don't watch
the clock.
- Look ahead in the test only as it helps
you manage your time, but
not so much it raises anxiety.
And
don't let
your brain start
working on the next problem
before you finish the one you are on.
- Ignore the students working beside you.
How fast they work is irrelevant.
- Ignore other students who finish and
who get up to leave before
you are done.
- Stay focused. Don't let your mind
wander or worry.
- Ignore physical symptoms of anxiety.
They will not interfere
with your performance.
- Apply these strategies one by
one. Don't overwhelm yourself
by trying
to apply all
of them at once.
- Improvement and coping are
the goals, not perfection
or mastery of all anxiety.
Useful Sites:
|
