Moderate level of anxiety is frequently essential as it motivates to put in our best performance but a high level of anxiety interferes with performance and achievement.
Approaching examination brings about some degree of anxiety. In fact, anxiety is a natural response to a task and the awareness of motives performing the task and the outcome. Examination for most people is an anxiety-provoking situation.
Moderate level of anxiety is frequently essential as it motivates us to put in our best performance but a high level of anxiety interferes with performance and achievement. An optimum level of anxiety or arousal helps you to perform well, while highly aroused physiologically and emotionally you are not able to perform to the best of her/his abilities.
Examination is a potentially stressful situation. Stress refers to demands that are appraised as exceeding one’s resources. There are two strategies for coping: monitoring or taking effective action, and blunting or avoiding taking effective action.
Monitoring involves taking effective and direct action to deal with the stressful situation. The following strategies can be used for monitoring:
- Prepare well in Advance: Plan your examination and prepare well in advance. Give yourself ample time. Familiarise yourself with the pattern of question papers and frequently asked questions. This will give you a sense of predictability and control and reduces the stress potential of the examination.
- Have a Rehearsal: Make yourself go through a mock examination. Ask your friend to test your knowledge. You can also rehearse mentally in your mind. Visualise yourself taking the examination confidently and their passage writing using colours.
- Inoculation: Inoculate yourself against stress. Exposure through rehearsals and role playing will reduce anxiety and help you face the examination situation better and with confidence.
- Positive Thinking: Have faith in yourself. Structure your thoughts with systematically listing your strengths and weaknesses. Start dealing with them one by one. Emphasise on your strengths. Suggest to yourself to be positive and enthusiastic.
- Seek Support: Do not hesitate to ask for help from teachers, parents or seniors. Talking about your stressful situations with others makes one feel light and helps gain insight. The situation may not be as bad as it seems.
On the other hand, blunting strategies involve avoidance. Avoidance is neither desirable nor possible in an examination situation, but the following techniques may prove useful:
- Relaxation: Learn to relax. Relaxation techniques help you calm your nerves and give you an opportunity to reframe your thoughts. In general, this involves sitting or lying down in a comfortable posture in a quiet place, relaxing your muscles, minimising the flow of thoughts and focusing.
- Exercise: A stressful situation overactivates the sympathetic nervous system. Exercise helps to discharge this energy and reduces tension. A brief period of light exercise or active sports will help you concentrate better on your studies.
