Test Anxiety: How Can It Affect You?
The bell rings, and you are about to take a test. You may have studied each and every night to prepare yourself for this test, or you managed to cram in as much information as you could into your mind. However, when the test starts, you start to become anxious and stressed out. Being nervous can be okay, but when it gets too extreme, it can affect how well you do on your test and can put your emotional state into a wild frenzy. In other words, you begin to suffer from test anxiety.
According to Verywell Mind, test anxiety is considered to be a “performance anxiety” in that it causes people to become anxious because of how pressuring their situation is, and their overwhelming thought of getting the highest points. Whether it be a sports championship, a job interview, or a stage production, performance anxieties can trigger excessive thoughts about doing well that it actually “impairs” how these tasks are accomplished. Test anxiety is no different. If it is a simple test or an SAT exam, test anxiety can disrupt the ability to figure out answers and cause people to do poorly on these tests, no matter how hard they studied.
Test anxiety can occur due to a number of reasons, including thinking about tests that have been done poorly in the past, being unprepared for the current exam, or just worrying about failing. During the test, this can cause symptoms such as rapid breathing, sweating, fast heartbeats, headaches, and dizziness, as well as having “butterflies in your stomach.” Test anxiety can also make you feel depressed, angry, and hopeless. As a result, these symptoms can seriously affect your test performance.
On this issue, Psychology teacher Mr. Taylor believes that a major reason why test anxiety is so frequent among students is because of the students’ beliefs that taking harder courses will help them become successful in the future. “I think that students feel the pressure to have to take accelerated classes in order to have a good life,” he said. Students who especially sign up for more AP exams and tests feel more stressed out, causing them to have test anxiety on tests and quizzes in other classes.
If you find yourself having test anxiety, there are some ways that will help you overcome or minimize it. Make sure that you know the material for your exam; don’t try to quickly study the night before. Instead, study a little of the material each day before your exam, so that you will be more confident on test day. Get rid of those negative thoughts, so that they don’t disrupt your state of mind. Think to yourself: “I can do this” or “I know this already.” These are some good ways to keep yourself from being doubtful about what you know or don’t know. If you start to have fast heartbeats and breathe heavily, taking deep breaths will help you stay calm and focused. Don’t think you can get every single question correct on your exam; it’s okay to make mistakes. Try to do the best you can, and take time to focus on each question, instead of rushing to finish first. If you keep this information in mind, you will surely do much better and be more confident when taking your next test.