The Psychology Behind Test Anxiety

If you regularly become excessively nervous before and during an important exam, you may have test anxiety. Test anxiety brings symptoms that often interfere with test performance and cause significant discomfort. These symptoms include increased heart rate, digestive problems (like nausea, diarrhea, cramping, heartburn, etc.), jittery feelings, sweating, shaking, and shallow breathing.

There are many ways you can reduce test anxiety before your next exam. Making a study plan, getting enough rest, and finding healthy ways to cope with stress can all be helpful in reducing test anxiety. But to find long-term relief for test anxiety, you need to deal with the source of the anxiety itself.

Test anxiety is a type of fear. Test anxiety affects many people of all ages and intelligence, and its symptoms are rooted in your biological "fight or flight" response. For whatever reason, your mind likely perceives an upcoming exam as a threat and then initiates a cascade of hormones that prepare the body for quick action in the face of this threat. When you think about an important test, what are you afraid of? The obvious answer - being afraid of failing or performing badly - is often just the surface-level fear. Why does your subconscious mind perceive the test as a threat worthy of your fear?

Test anxiety is often rooted in early childhood experiences. Fear of performing badly on an exam can go back far into your childhood. Did one of your parents or a teacher send certain messages to you about tests, as if your very worth as a person depended on your score? Finding the root of the anxiety can help you to deconstruct the lies and truths in that experience. You may need to seek out professional counseling to sort through these hidden messages.

Anxiety can distort your view of reality. Fear often causes us to see things differently from reality. For example, it may feel like your whole life depends on the results of that big test coming up. But regardless of how well you do on the exam, the truth is that you are a valuable person with much to contribute simply because you are alive. To keep everything in perspective, you may want to consider volunteer work with a local charity group or community organization. Working to help others may remind you that the human experience has numerous highs and lows, and that this next test is only one small thing in a much bigger picture.

Text Anxiety - Home