Exam anxiety: What helps against it?

Today we would like to take a closer look at exam anxiety and how you can overcome it in order to reach your full potential during your studies. How is exam anxiety defined? Who is affected by it? What are the symptoms?

What is exam anxiety?

Many people experience this anxiety at school: When exams are coming up, you can get nervous and worried. What if you can’t deliver the required performance? What happens when a blackout strikes? Fear arises; fear of failure and of being judged.

As long as this anxiety is kept in moderation, it is completely normal and part of an exam situation. It is even helpful so that you approach the matter with the necessary seriousness and prepare yourself accordingly. However, as soon as this anxiety ensures that everything revolves around the upcoming exam, you can’t concentrate, even studying doesn’t work because the anxiety blocks everything, it becomes a real problem.

If the anxiety gets to the point where it interferes with learning and blackouts occur, we can speak of exam anxiety.

What are the symptoms of test anxiety?

Anyone with a pronounced fear, such as a fear of heights, will be familiar with the following classic symptoms:

• Palpitations
• Nausea
• queasy feeling in the stomach
• Cold sweat
• Intestinal problems
• Concentration difficulties
• Blackouts

These symptoms often appear with these accompanying symptoms:

• Trembling
• Dry mouth
• depressive moods
• Sleep disorders
• Numbness and tingling of arms and legs
• Hot flushes and/or cold shivers
• Tense jaw
• Lump in the throat

Tips and tricks against exam anxiety

Now that we’ve gone through the catalog of anxiety symptoms that probably didn’t give you a good feeling while reading, we’d like to give you some tools that you can use to conquer this fear in the long term.

Because fear, as a wise man named RuPaul Charles said, is a feeling and “feelings are not facts.”

You should remember this sentence, because fear is a strong feeling that deceives you. You shouldn’t believe it before an exam, be it a driving test or an exam at university. Instead, you should practise these things and, ideally, incorporate them into your everyday life so that you can deal with this feeling better.

Time management is the first port of call when exam nerves get to you, because preparation is everything. So start studying in good time and stay on the ball regularly so that your documents are always complete. Take plenty of breaks and use them to really relax, take a deep breath, eat and drink. Manage your time well and set priorities. Don’t pull an all-nighter, because getting enough sleep is just as important as studying: only those who are rested can score with a clear and alert mind.

Take good care of yourself and learn new techniques to prepare your body for a stressful situation. One such technique is called breathing, which may seem ridiculous at first, but breathing can determine how relaxed or stressed we are.
So breathe in deeply through your nose and fill your belly with air until it bulges. Hold your breath for 2-3 seconds and then exhale slowly through your open mouth. Repeat this a few times and you will notice how the tension is released from your body. We can give the body the same attention and actively do things that would otherwise happen automatically, such as breathing.

To do this, simply consciously tense your calves while sitting , hold them and then release them again. Now do the same with your thighs, buttocks, arms and so on. This is called progressive muscle relaxation and there are all kinds of helpful videos on the internet that guide you through these relaxation exercises.

Taking a different perspective helps in many life situations, including exam anxiety and blackouts. Observe how you have dealt with exam situations so far, what thoughts you have and nurture in such moments and how you deal with yourself. As soon as you notice patterns, such as beating yourself up because you can’t do it anyway – change them. You can do this by actively intervening in your habits. Realize that you have been used to thinking negatively and change these thoughts into challenges. That sounds much more positive straight away!

Honesty lasts the longest, as the saying goes. And honesty is indeed an important aspect of being better understood by others in such situations. So if you black out during an oral exam, don’t be afraid to admit it. The examiner will help you and understand that you are not keeping quiet because you have prepared badly. So don’t be ashamed, most examiners are familiar with exam anxiety and won’t give you a hard time about it. Take courage!

Stay on the ball: Practise these things in your everyday life, not just shortly before exams. This is the only way to achieve long-term success. So take good care of yourself, your body and your mind. Eat a healthy diet and keep fit. Stay away from diets when you have to study, because your body and not least your brain need the nutrients.

SOS rescue plan during an exam

We have now discussed what you can do before an exam to minimize exam anxiety. However, if you do black out, you can use these tricks:

If a fact comes to mind that doesn’t exactly match the question at first, start with: “I would like to briefly discuss a fact that seems important to me in this context” – this way you can approach the question and calm down a bit while talking.

Don’t panic. Take a deep breath and bring your heart rate back to a normal pace.

Ask a question when you are in an oral exam. This reconnects you with the here and now and allows you to buy a little more time: “Can you please repeat the question?”, “I don’t understand the context, what are you getting at?”

Switch to the next task, in the meantime your blackout may have already cleared.