How to get rid of exam anxiety

Behaviour before and during oral and written exams

Study, study, study

Extensive studying and a good preparation before an exam are very important to stay calm on the day of the exam. Here you can learn more about different study strategies.

 To be able to study more focussed, your surroundings are very important. First of all, this means that you study much better at a tidy desk, than surrounded by chaos. And with that I mean your desk and not your entire apartment. You should at least have a basic tidiness at home. Chaos, however, is perfect if you want to work creatively.

A well-conceived study plan will give you the freedom to still take care of your social life and hobbies, to go into the exam with self-confidence. Better plan ahead! Consider how much time you will need to study according to the date of the exam and also calculate some extra time just in case you get sick or planned a short trip somewhere. That way you won’t have any problems. You should also try to find out at what time of day you are most concentrated. For most people this is in the morning and then another shorter period in the afternoon. Keep that time of day free and mark it in your calendar, so that you don’t start thinking about cleaning your windows in that time. This is your study time and you shouldn’t be doing anything else in that moment. Generally, it is best not to plan more than 6 hours of studying for one day. And make sure to take breaks as well. Just if you take breaks regularly, you will be able to study successfully. You should get off the desk at least once an hour and take a longer break after three hours at the latest. Besides those breaks, sleep is also very important for your regeneration during the exam period.  In the best case you should sleep 7,5h and go to bed before midnight. Our body uses the sleep to process the day and the things we learned are organized and saved in your brain. You can study as much as you want but if you are not sleeping enough this will be for nothing. After the exam period you are free to go back to your party sleep rhythm. ;)

Checklist for the exam day

The following little tips might seem trivial for you but actually those are things we tend to forget sometimes. So listen up!

Find out which materials you need or are allowed to bring for the exam. Pens, paper, calculator or statute book. Prepare everything the day before or even already pack your bag for the day. Make sure that nothing is missing and that everything works fine. You also shouldn’t forget drinks and a little exam snack. You should definitely remember your water bottle. It is not quite certain why but students going into an exam with a water bottle achieve better results than without. So just pack one as well.

Inform yourself about when and where the exam will take place and make sure that you are there on time. You should be at the right place at least 10 and maximum 20 minutes before the exam. If you are late, you could be excluded from the exam but if you are too early, you could start worrying too much. Did you start your day the same way every day during the study period? Then you should do that as well on the exam day. Rituals give you security and calm you down in a stressful situation. It is also best to eat wholemeal products in the morning. Complex and long-chain carbohydrates fuel your brain with lots of energy that you will need for the exam.

Remember the following things on the exam day:

No last-minute studying! No more studying on the day of the exam; this will just increase your nervousness. It is better to take a walk around the block or to have a good breakfast instead. Whatever makes you feel good.

You should avoid people who are chronically panicking or bragging with their success! This will just put you under more pressure and you don’t need that!

Studies show that it can be good to write down all your fears and worries 10 minutes before the exam. People who do that show 5% better results under pressure. That is better than nothing.

What we can learn from super heroes? Power-Posing! Power-Posing is a powerful pose with your body like superman with his arm stretched about to fly in the air or wonder woman with her fists on her hips, eyes fixed on her opponent with a steady stance. Go into a pose that works for you right before the exam, breathe deep into your stomach, stand straight and encourage yourself. This will give you energy for the exam!

Behaviour during a written exam

 You are now sitting in front of your exam paper with a full belly and a positive feeling. The first thing you should do is to read. Check all questions and hints and see if there are more questions on the back of the paper. There have been many students that overlooked half the exam on the back of the paper. This should not happen to you.

Check the weighting of the questions. If a question only has 10% of the points, then you should only spend 10% of the time on that one. Start with the easy questions and work towards the more difficult ones. This will give you security. For complex questions it would be best to first write down an outline about your answer strategy and not just start writing without a plan. Use all the time that you get. There is no advantage in handing in the paper early.

Behaviour during an oral exam

 The big day has come and you can finally show what you have learned. There are a few things to know for an oral exam.

Dress up! Of course you are not supposed to buy a new suit. That would be too much. But a well-fitting shirt or blouse will add to your confidence.

Accept your nervousness! Every examiner knows that oral exams are a special challenge. Nobody will blame you for that!

Score with a nice greeting! If you enter the room with a smile, the others will immediately get a good feeling about you. Greet all people in the room.

Think out loud! Since the oral exam is a talk, the conversation dies if you think you can only tell them complete results. It is important to show the examiner how you got to the result; that way the examiner can correct you and lead you in a direction as soon as you go the wrong way. Most examiners are ready to give some help if the chance comes up.

Pay attention to the question! The examiner expects a reaction to his question. Show them that you heard and understood the question by repeating it or saying it in your own words. If you do that you can use the repetition to see if you are going in the right direction, e.g. “Did you mean the question regarding…?” “Do you want to hear that…?”

Don’t give up! It is absolutely no problem if you are not able to answer a question. You can still get a very good grade if you don’t answer every question. Especially in an oral exam the examiners have the chance to go deeper into the topic with the students. The harder the questions, the more they think you can do. So this is a good sign. If there are questions you can’t answer, you can ask them to ask these questions again towards the end of the exam. Maybe you will be able to think of the answer then.

Don’t think too complicated! Especially in the beginning of the exam the professors want to know simple things. In that moment the examiner wants to give the student some security. The closest thing in your head is usually the right thing.

Demonstrate knowledge and skills! If you are very confident in one of the topics you can refer to another familiar topic in your answer to show what you know. This is also a good way to move the exam in a direction you like.

Persevere! Don’t end an exam early even if it is going really bad. It is much harder to cope with an exam you didn’t finish, than with one you failed.

The last impression counts, too! Say good bye to everybody with a smile.

What to do in case of a blackout?

 Despite great mental and material preparations, it can happen that you suddenly forget everything. The best thing would be to openly admit that. Don’t be afraid: The examiners don’t wish anything bad for you and know what pressure you are under. Usually they will be happy to help you find a way around the blackout.

You could say or do the following things:

 "I just lost my train of thought, could you repeat the question?”

• Encourage yourself: “Stay calm and take a breath. You don’t have to know everything, you are fine.”
• You can ask the examiner to push the question a bit and ask another question first.
• Take a breath. During a blackout your brain is undersupplied a bit. By breathing deep into your stomach you will bring enough oxygen to your brain cells so that you can think again. Another helpful thing is to wiggle your toes.
• A big smile can help, too. This lowers the stress hormone cortisol in your body and gives you more capacity to think. However, this could be a bit irritating for your examiner. So you better communicate what you are doing there and why.

And one last general tip for you: Look forward to the exam!

I know it is easier said than done but try it. Especially on the last day of studying imagine the feeling of the passed exam and be happy about it. If you manage to see the exam as a challenge and not a threat, you will experience a lot less stress.

GOOD LUCK!

Nervousness and fear

First of all, fear is a fundamental human emotion. There is nobody who is free of any fear. All of us have experienced this feeling before and there is usually a good reason for it. Fear can save your life. It helps you to quickly recognize danger and possibly take protective measures like fleeing from the situation or going into the attack mode. The body reactions coming with fear can help you dealing with dangerous situations. Your muscles get tense, your heart beats faster and stress hormones are released. Both body and mind are highly concentrated and ready to work. Without fear, humankind would probably already have gone extinct.

In the modern times we live in, the situations we fear have changed. We no longer fight against tigers or seek shelter from a thunderstorm; today we worry about money or our job and are afraid of flying, the dentist or speaking in front of a group of people. So, nowadays we perceive situations as threatening even though objectively there is no immediate danger coming from them such as a visit at the dentist. This is a little annoying but not so bad for now. When those fears are permanently part of your emotions, controlling your everyday life and limiting your ability to act then it is time to look further into that and to seek support. Then, they no longer allow concentrated activity but block it. Anxiety is very common. Around 14 to 25 percent of all people will struggle with anxiety at some point in their life which makes it one of the most common mental health diseases besides depression. A good way to deal with anxiety is by the help of a psychiatrist, which is to be recommended. If left untreated, anxiety can take over which could lead to a “fear of fear” or the so-called expectation fear. There, the radius of movement of people suffering from anxiety becomes smaller and smaller and they are avoiding more places and situations that could possibly be triggering their fear.

Exams are a fixed part of our life. There is no way of getting around exams as a student but also in your working life. It is absolutely normal to feel a certain amount of fear or nervousness before an exam, it is even necessary. Thanks to the American psychologists Yerkes and Dodson, we now know that the agitation like fear or achievement motivation before exam situations are an important driving force – completely regardless whether it is an oral or written exam, a presentation or an interview.

They were dealing with the connection between agitation and productivity and were able to show that the lowest capacity or productivity was reached both with rather little and with very strong stress. With medium stress, however, we show an optimum of performance. Which means that you should embrace the nervousness before exams with open arms because that is exactly what helps you to deliver your best.

Your fear of exam situations is only harmful when it is so strong that it causes a severe physical or mental stress that can negatively affect your preparations, the exam situation or your concentration. This would be the case if your exam anxiety bothers you so much during the exam preparations that you are dealing more with your anxiety than with studying or that you are paralyzed with fear during the exam, so that you cannot think straight. This would definitely be the right time to seek professional help.

The symptoms of agitation or fear and also the level of agitation or fear differ from person to person. A dry mouth, numbness in the extremities, nausea or diarrhoea, racing heart, dizziness, a lump in your throat and running thoughts are a number of possible symptoms. As long as these symptoms only appear shortly before the exam and are not preventing you from succeeding in your exam, they are an expression of mild agitation and help you doing your best job.