The Dos and Don’ts of Managing Anxiety Related to Exams

The stress brought on by a major exam in a course can be extreme enough that it impairs the clear thinking needed for optimal performance. Consider the Dos and Don’ts lists below for managing anxiety related to exams.

Do…

• prepare for an exam using the “Five-Day Study Plan” in Preparing for an Exam. Students who feel prepared will have less anxiety overall.
• stay positive about yourself and your ability to perform well.
• plan to reward yourself with something relaxing or fun after the exam. Think about that when stressful thoughts may occur.
• relax the last hour before the exam to reduce tension and stressful thoughts.
• eat a moderate breakfast that includes both protein and healthy carbohydrates.
• periodically conduct checks on the tension in certain areas of your body and try to relax those areas. Breathing deeply and engaging in some positive imagery can also reduce tension quickly during an exam.
• survey the entire exam and plan carefully.
• ask questions of your professor if you are unsure about what to do on a particular question.

Don’t…

• cram for an exam. Underprepared students naturally have something to worry about.
• let negative thoughts or worrying get in the way of clear thinking. If you catch yourself worrying about what you do not know, stop yourself and replace it with positive affirmations and what you do know.
• spend time with classmates who might confuse you or generate stress about the exam on the day of the exam.
• stay up late the night before the exam. A good night’s sleep will improve your mental state and promote clearer thinking.
• drink a lot of caffeine before the exam. Arousal from caffeine can add to stress and make you jumpy.
• show up late for an exam. Feeling rushed to finish adds to the stress.
• panic if you “go blank” on a question. Go answer other questions and come back to it later. If all else fails, guess or write down what you do know.
• resort to looking at anyone else’s paper if you are unsure of your performance. Maintaining your integrity is far more important than the results of this exam.

If you feel that you are unable to manage your stress, please use the resources available to you through your college. You don’t have to do this alone!

If you answered true to any of the statements in the table above, you have suffered some of the symptoms of test anxiety. Most of us have experienced this. It is normal to feel stress before an exam, and in fact, that may be a good thing. Stress motivates you to study and review, generates adrenaline to help sharpen your reflexes and focus while taking the exam, and may even help you remember some of the material you need. However, suffering too many stress symptoms or suffering any of them severely will impede your ability to show what you have learned. Test anxiety is a psychological condition in which a person feels distress before, during, or after a test or exam to the point where stress causes poor performance. Anxiety during a test interferes with your ability to recall knowledge from memory and to use higher-level thinking skills effectively. To learn more about study skills, see Basics of Study Skills.

Steps for Managing Test Anxiety

There are steps you should take if you find that stress is getting in your way:

• Be prepared. A primary cause of test anxiety is not knowing the material. If you take good class and reading notes and review them regularly, this stressor should be greatly reduced if not eliminated. You should be confident going into your exam (but not overconfident).
• Bounce bad vibes. Your own negative thoughts—“I’ll never pass this exam” or “I can’t figure this out, I must be really stupid!”—may move you into spiraling stress cycle that in itself causes enough anxiety to block your best efforts. When you feel you are brewing a storm of negative thoughts, stop what you are doing and clear your mind. Allow yourself to daydream a little; visualize yourself in pleasant surroundings with good friends. Don’t go back to work until you feel the tension release. Sometimes, it helps to take a deep breath and mentally shout, “STOP!” and then proceed with clearing your mind. Once your mind is clear, repeat a reasonable affirmation to yourself—“I know this stuff”—before continuing your work.
• Visualize success. Picture what it will feel like to get that A. Translate that vision into specific, reasonable goals and work toward each individual goal. Take one step at a time and reward yourself for each goal you complete.
• It’s all about you! Don’t waste your time comparing yourself to other students in the class, especially during the exam. Keep focused on your own work and your own plan. Exams are not a race, so it doesn’t matter who turns in their exam first. Certainly you have no idea how they did on their exam, so a thought like “Kristen is already done, she must have aced it, I wish I had her skills” is counterproductive and will only cause additional anxiety.
• Have a plan and follow it. As soon as you know that an exam is coming, you can develop a plan for studying. As soon as you get your exam, you should develop a plan for getting through it. We discussed this in Test-Taking Strategies. Don’t wait to cram for an exam at the last minute; the pressure you put on yourself and the late night will cause more anxiety, and you won’t learn or retain much.
• Make sure you eat well and get a good night’s sleep before the exam. Hunger, poor eating habits, energy drinks (including coffee!), and lack of sleep all contribute to test anxiety.
• Chill! You perform best when you are relaxed, so learn some relaxation exercises you can use during an exam. Before you begin your work, take a moment to listen to your body. Which muscles are tense? Move them slowly to relax them. Tense them and relax them. Exhale, then continue to exhale for a few more seconds until you feel that your lungs are empty. Inhale slowly through your nose and feel your rib cage expand as you do. This will help oxygenate your blood and reenergize your mind.

Chapter Attributions

This chapter was adapted by Michelle Holbrook and Cheryl Colan from “4.1 Dealing with Test Anxiety: Managing Your Stress for Success” by Leslie Jennings, licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license, and from “College Success” published by University of Minnesota, licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.