Your Life Goals and Test Anxiety

Many people must take certain exams in order to achieve the next stage in their professional career. For example, premed students who want to become physicians must do well on the MCAT to enter medical school. Because the MCAT and other exams can significantly determine your career path, it often seems like your whole life depends on that one test.

This is a lot of pressure for any student, but for people with test anxiety it can be downright disabling. Here's what you need to know:

Understand the symptoms. Test anxiety manifests in symptoms like insomnia, rapid heart rate, shallow breathing, lack of concentration, and digestive problems. These symptoms interfere with the ability to perform well on the exam, which further aggravates the anxiety in a frustrating cycle. Don't try to fight the anxiety -recognize it as a red flag and use it to your advantage.

Recognize the crossroads. Test anxiety provides a good reason to examine your motives for certain life goals. Why do you want to become a doctor, lawyer, or whatever the profession may be? Do you really want that job or certification? Being confident in your path will help you better cope with the anxiety. Not being sure of your real goals may be a good sign that you should pursue something else or at least develop a better idea of your life plan.

Believe in purpose. With so much riding on that one big test, it may seem like your whole life hangs in the balance. But if you are meant to become a doctor (or whatever your goal may be), one bad test score cannot keep you from your destiny - you just might need to persist in your goals by studying harder for the retake or giving yourself more time to meet your goals.

Don't let fear hold you back. Overcoming test anxiety is hard work. Test anxiety is often rooted in perfectionism, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, negative self-talk, and previous bad experiences perhaps going back to early childhood. Spend some time in reflection to locate the root of your anxiety. If test anxiety persists, you may want to seek out a trusted counselor, minister, or advisor to help you wade through some of the issues involved.

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