Exam season, finals, midterms, and countless other assessments loom over many during the school year. Students can often find themselves blaming disappointing grades and lack of academic success on the phenomenon of “blanking” during the exam. This can be a result of many factors: lack of sleep, nutrition, or insufficient study methods. Regardless of hours spent studying, the exam environment can often deter your mind. There are ways to simulate an exam/test environment in an effort to prepare better for tests, but practice is required to overcome fears, especially those that come alongside timed assessment. 

Why Does This Happen? 

Tests are events that have unpredictable results, as, despite preparation, focus, or effort, the outcome is out of your control. Additionally, a testing environment is often highly moderated and tense, and the feeling of time “running out” can also be an intrinsic source of fear. Another obvious factor is not having been adequately prepared for a test, and feeling somewhat hopeless and disappointed as a result. Perfectionism, fear of failure, and high expectations can also contribute to the overbearing nature of anxiety. This can lead to the feeling of disappointing others with lack of success, which can be detrimental to self-esteem. Unattainable goals can lead to continuous feelings of discouragement, negative self-perception, and self-comparison. Overall, each contributor is capable of leaving effects far greater than simply one test or one grade. 

What Can I Do?

Every individual is different, and so is every learning style, perspective, and emotion. It requires time, practice, and strength to face fears, as well as accept mistakes. By spending time with oneself and reflecting on struggles, test anxiety and self-esteem can be improved. It's difficult to prescribe advice applicable to every student, but there are many universal suggestions that can be applied to several circumstances. 

1. Simulate a Testing Environment

This can seem like a way to induce stress, but it's quite the opposite. In fact, it truly can prepare the mind for a test situation. By structuring your studying environment to be similar to an exam, it can help you adjust to the potential fear that comes with it. For example, ensuring that your environment is somewhere you can focus can create similarity with an examination room. Study environments depend on the person; Many prefer to study in cafés or libraries, whilst others feel more comfortable in simply their room. Background noise can be beneficial to focus for some, and testing rooms are often not completely silent either. 

Additionally, timing a studying session can be helpful to schedule efficient breaks, and as a result, work more productively. A timer also helps you to be conscious of time spent being truly productive, and serves as a reminder of the task; you can also pause and reflect on the cumulative time you studied when taking your break. It's even better if you can complete practice exams or find similar resources to work through to increase confidence and as a result, decrease anxiety. 

Another significant aspect of preparing for tests can be adhering to what helps you learn. This takes time and practice to ensure that the methods you utilize when studying are truly valuable and adequately prepare you for examination. The internet is full of countless methods that are unique and could possibly suit your learning abilities. Some well-known ones include the Pomodoro technique, the Feynman technique, or active recall methods. Research is important, as well as being open to variability, and trying new things to help strengthen pre-existing habits. 

2. Utilizing Relaxation Techniques

This can seem like very common advice, but there is a reason it's so often mentioned in methods to decrease different fears and anxieties. Breathing in and out while focusing on the length of your breaths can help center yourself, especially in a stressful situation. Although this may not initially resolve feelings of fear, it can help to calm physical symptoms. 

Whilst breathing, it's also helpful to observe your body allowing in air, almost like a wave. Researching and trying different ways to calm down before and during an exam can lead to discovering methods that work for you, and can even be applied to other situations. These strategies take time to be useful, and should not be neglected because they seem ineffective. Some examples are deep breathing exercises, such as the 4-7-8 method, alternate nostril breathing, or guided meditation and breathing. These are a few of the countless methods people use to relieve stress. 

3. Communication

Although it can be difficult, it's helpful to communicate honestly and effectively with teachers, professors, and even peers. Communicating with teachers can be initially scary to do, but it can open other doors and answer questions that will help in case of a test or exam. Whether you have questions or general concerns, there is no harm in approaching a teacher at an appropriate time. 

This is also helpful in familiarizing yourself with someone who can be a valuable resource, and who is qualified to answer any and all academic and content-related questions you have. While studying, you can also record questions which arise, and then when a moment arrives, be able to effectively ask these questions. This will relieve a burden, and communicating about a topic can assist with memory. 

4. Physical Wellness

Tests depend heavily on academic preparedness, but efforts to study and learn can be diminished by lack of physical wellness. Sleep, a healthy diet, and fitness all provide energy to the body and maintain health. This is significant because a test requires concentration and mental clarity, as well as the ability to effectively remember and manage time. Sleep deprivation, for example, can lead to a decline in cognitive abilities, and problem-solving skills. It will also make it more difficult to physically complete lengthy exams, and make you more prone to minor mistakes, which you would not make otherwise. These kinds of mistakes can accumulate and be highly frustrating when receiving a mark back. 

5. Maintaining a Positive Perspective

Academics, and academic testing can be a determinant of self-esteem for many people. This is a common phenomenon, however, disappointment and discouragement affect mood and cause mental health issues. It's important to reassure yourself that your worth is not dependent on your academic successes, especially those which are based on simply numerical grades. It's important to appreciate all learning opportunities, regardless of concrete assessments, which do not truly determine your value as a human, friend, family member, or even student. 

Avoid comparing yourself with others, because this can discourage you from working towards success and fulfillment and diminish your self-confidence. Everyone is different: a statement heard countless times by everyone, but equally true each time it's said. It's unfair to subject yourself to negative affirmations, and although it can be difficult, it's crucial to adjust your perspective. Having a positive mindset builds resilience and perseverance, which is necessary to find success. 

Academic challenges can be learning opportunities, and a positive motivator rather than a negative stress, that can manifest itself in physical symptoms and mental health issues. Take pride in your journey and show gratitude by seeing education as a gift and school as a place to continuously make connections, gain academic knowledge, and life experience. 

Another aspect of your perspective is your openness to asking for support. This can be a friend, peer, mentor, or qualified counsellor. Counselling resources are often available in school institutions, and can also be sought out or requested. Being able to confide in others, and relate to others is beneficial, as accumulated emotions and stresses can have detrimental effects on mental health. 

When you are able to share your feelings with others and reflect on your struggles and successes, you learn much about yourself. Be assured you’re not alone in this. Be open to the challenges of others as well, and always be welcoming towards your peers, friends, and loved ones. 

The struggle of coping with test anxiety is something many face, and many improve, and although it seems minuscule, it's still a struggle to truly overcome it. Although fears seem out of your grasp, as do exams, it's possible to face the thoughts which deter your focus. Knowledge and learning are never defined by a number, and it is up to you to be the inner voice that believes in your success.