Managing exam anxiety

You may find that exams provoke levels of anxiety which are highly uncomfortable, and that you do not produce your best work under such pressure.

If you tend to be a perfectionist, an exam can be particularly stressful because it has a set time limit which limits lengthy planning, rewriting and checking. Even revision can be difficult if you are constantly worrying about whether you will remember and understand your material when you are in the exam room.

Anxiety management techniques will be more useful if you practice them early, since you can use them alongside your revision, in the final run up to the exam, and in the exam itself.

Technique 1: Self-talk - turning negative statements into positive ones

You can guide your thinking away from general worry and self-doubt by turning negative self-statements into positive ones. This strategy is useful in all aspects of life.

Activity time:

Now try to construct an example for yourself, in relation to a past exam or test experience, in order to identify your pattern of self-talk.

In recalling this past experience, ask yourself the following questions.

What were you telling yourself?
Was it positive or negative?
What were your feelings?
What did you learn from these feelings?
What were your actions?

If you described negative feelings and statements, try to change them into positive self-talk and consequent positive actions.

You may discover that you undermine yourself by negative self-talk. Keep re-wording negative statements into positives. Positive self-talk is a powerful tool.

Turning the negative into the positive:

Here is a rewording of some of the negative student comments, which we have re-worded into positive comments.

Negative	Positive
I am no good at exams, I always let myself down	The past is irrelevant. I am now working well and have planned techniques which will really help
I leave revision to the last minute and then get in a flap	I can get my work done in time if I plan a timetable and stick to it
I might fail	I am determined to pass and I am working to make that happen

Make a list of positive statements that create positive feelings, and repeat them regularly. In the exam room, you could quietly say to yourself, 'It is okay, I can handle this', or 'I can relax. I am in control', or 'Now is my chance to put into action the things I have learnt'.

Technique 2: Relaxation

Here are three relaxation techniques, which you can use before and during the exam.

A relaxation exercise:

This is an exercise that can be done during an exam without drawing attention to yourself, or disturbing others.

1	Pull in stomach muscles tightly	Hold for a count of five	Relax
2	Clench fist tightly	Hold for a count of five	Relax
3	Extend your fingers	Hold for a count of five	Relax
4	Grasp below seat of chair	Pull up for a count of five	Relax
5	Press elbows tightly into side of body	Hold for a count of five	Relax
6	Push foot hard into floor	Hold for a count of five	Relax

Adapted from David Acres (1987) How To Pass Exams Without Anxiety

The emergency stop technique:

This exercise is an emergency relaxation technique to counteract panic and the build up of tension.

Say sharply to yourself STOP! (aloud if the situation permits).
Breathe in and hold your breath for a moment before slowly exhaling. As you do so, relax your shoulders and hands.
Pause for a moment, then breathe in slowly again and hold. This time, as you breathe out relax your forehead and jaw.
Stay quiet for a few moments, then go on with what you were doing, moving slowly and smoothly.

Adapted from Jane Madders (1988) Stress and Relaxation

A breathing exercise:

Breathe in slowly through your nose for a count of eight. As you breathe in, imagine you are filling your stomach / abdomen area first, and then your chest.
Hold this breath in for as long as it is comfortable.
Expel the air out through your nose for a count of eight, expelling the air from your abdomen upwards through your chest.
Refrain from taking another breath until it becomes uncomfortable, and then repeat the process again.

Technique 3: Visualisation

Creating calming pictures or images in your mind, or 'visualising', can really help you to relax.

Method 1:

First of all, do some of the relaxation exercises we have described above. Then imagine yourself in this calm state taking the exam. You feel purposeful and confident. You see yourself at a desk in the exam room environment. You feel entirely at home and attuned to that moment, working effectively and concentrating well.

Now practise visualising this positive, clear, realistic image over and over again.

Method 2:

Create a scene in your imagination. Think of a scene - real or imaginary, from any time - that creates feelings of safety, warmth, security and peace, with no uneasy feelings. Make it vivid by feeling the breeze and the temperature, picturing the colours and hearing the sounds. Practice visualising this scene as often as you can. When you want to feel calm, think of this scene and stay imagining it for a short while. Then return your thoughts to the matter in hand. The sense of calm should stay with you and enable you to cope better with whatever comes.

Using visualisation:

The important thing is to find out which technique works for you, and to practice it before the exam, so that if the need arises you can switch into the technique during the exam itself.

For a very small number of students with more persistent anxiety, medical advice can be very helpful. If this is the case, it is really important to talk to an advisor or tutor, to see what special exam arrangements are possible.

Acknowledgements and thanks…

This work originally comes from the Open University’s Open Learn Materials, and is available under a Creative Commons license and can be downloaded, remixed and reused. Anyone can link to the website, which it encourages, and if you want to use the materials on your website you need to follow the directions here regarding copyright.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Open University for allowing the IET to reproduce their material in a modified form.

OTHER INTERNET RESOURCES:

From the IET

External Link

Open University