Exam anxiety: why you are not alone with it

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Exam anxiety: How do I find more calm?

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Photo: skynesher / E + / Getty Images

During the examination phase, not only does the stress level rise for many students, but also the panic level.

It's no different in the Corona semester.

I keep getting messages like that from Steffi: "How can I withstand the pressure of the exam without subverting my exam anxiety?" She writes.

Good question, complicated answer.

Good, because many students struggle with this problem - complicated because exam anxiety is an individual matter.

Let's try to face it anyway.

Exam anxiety is widespread.

In a recent study by the Studierendenwerk, 53 percent of those questioned stated that they had ever had fear of exams.

42 percent were even confronted with a blackout during an exam.

So you're not alone with your test anxiety - hardly anyone talks about it.

This could also be due to the fact that exam anxiety manifests itself very differently: some people sleep poorly, others cannot eat or are easily irritable.

Some examinees are excited for weeks, others suppress their emotions and get a violent panic attack shortly before the exam.

As I said: It's complicated.

What can help against exam anxiety

One thing in advance: If you regularly suffer from anxiety and exam anxiety determines your everyday life, mental tricks will not help.

In such cases, you need professional help - and you can get it from psychological specialists or help from your university.

With milder forms of test anxiety, on the other hand, it is sometimes enough if you recognize destructive thought patterns, break them up and reprogram your thoughts.

It can help to look at things from an unfamiliar perspective - for example with these three approaches.

"Whom does my fear benefit?"

Exam anxiety is often triggered by individual thoughts that can grow into a bad mood.

For example, when you're studying, if you don't understand something directly, “I don't understand” becomes “I never understand”, then “I'm stupid”, and finally “Oh my God, I never pass this test ! «.

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To get out of the carousel of horror, you can ask yourself a simple question: »Does my fear help?

Whom is it good for? ”Once you isolate the negative thoughts and ask yourself what they are trying to do, you gain control over them.

This technique is borrowed from Buddhist meditation: You separate your person from individual thoughts - and thus help yourself to let them go.

Because once you've established that the benefits of your test anxiety are limited, it no longer makes sense to hold on to it.

That doesn't mean that you should suppress all critical tones within yourself.

It's more about not sinking into it completely.

There is a difference between "I don't like this subject" and "I'm stupid and will surely fail the exam".

"I don't need to be able to do everything"

Exam anxiety often arises from a feeling of being overwhelmed.

Two textbooks, 500 pages of script, 700 lecture slides and over 100 exercises: in many subjects it is simply not possible to internalize all the content in such a way that you can safely access it during the exam.

Instead of confusing yourself with the thought "I have to be able to do everything", you should be realistic about the matter.

You can't do everything anyway.

That's why you can't try to do everything.

You prefer to focus on the important exam content and learn it particularly well.

More "Bachelor of Smarts"

• Examination phase in the corona pandemic: keyboards out, online exam A guest contribution by Tim Reichel

• Self-doubt during studies: How do I learn to believe in myself? A guest contribution by Tim Reichel

• Studying more successfully: Finally, an end to last-minute learningA guest article by Tim Reichel

Apart from that, you will never have a perfect command of a topic (regardless of which one).

Not even your professors know every detail of their subject.

They are especially good, maybe even excellent - but not perfect.

And that's why you don't have to be.

"How bad can it get?"

If your exam anxiety is immune to logic, try the US writer Tim Ferriss' method: focus on your anxiety and think about what can happen in the worst case.

Define your personal nightmare and draw your worst-case scenario.

You can get a bad grade or fail.

Your semester planning is no longer necessary.

You will be de-registered.

Your parents disinherit you.

And so on.

Why the whole thing?

As soon as you know your fear, you take the horror out of it.

You know what to expect in the worst case.

This may really drag you down for a brief moment, but you'll soon feel better.

Because you will almost automatically switch to thinking about solutions.

That gives you a sense of security.

In the end, you will see that your situation is not that bad - even though you are assuming the worst case.

Conclusion

Instead of ignoring exam anxiety, you should deal with it.

Question your thought patterns.

Sometimes this helps to limit your nervousness before an exam.

Personally, the so-called "idiot theory" has served me well.

The next time you feel insecure about an exam, think of the many successful idiots in the world.

If the biggest chaos from the semester above me passed this exam, why shouldn't I, as a hardworking, reflective person, pass it with a passable grade?

You're hardworking and reflective, aren't you?

Then nothing can go wrong.

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