{"id":1529,"date":"2011-02-14T08:06:43","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T08:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.planetofsuccess.com\/blog\/?p=1529"},"modified":"2020-02-10T15:55:24","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T15:55:24","slug":"overcome-exam-nerves-and-academic-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.planetofsuccess.com\/blog\/overcome-exam-nerves-and-academic-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcome Exam Nerves and Academic Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article will show you how you can overcome exam nerves and exam stress with the same techniques I was able to combat test anxiety effectively and leave it behind forever. <\/span>Exam nerves, test anxiety, academic anxiety or exam fear<\/span>\u2026 no matter how you call it the fearfulness about upcoming tests and exams seems to have been an omnipresent element of my thoughts whenever the time of an exam approached. One night before the actual test started I was often lying awake in bed for hours, worrying about all possible occurrences during the test, inclusively the possibility that exam anxiety could arise or that I would blackout during the test, leaving a blank piece of paper behind. My mental pressure started to increase the sooner the test started and during the test, I often experienced fear of failure. It often went so far that I couldn\u2019t really concentrate on the questions and tasks of the test and just skimmed over these because I was so in hectic and fearfulness. Careless mistakes were an omnipresent element of nearly all of the tests I wrote that often worsened my grades.<\/span><\/p>\n

An important thing to note is that I was really young at the time my exam phobia peaked, no older than 14 years. However, when looking back I see how much exam anxiety influenced my life and became one of the reasons I couldn\u2019t commit my knowledge on paper. When making a leap in time to the day I was 21 I just had started studying at a university, after finishing an apprenticeship and gaining my first work experiences. I had gained a lot of knowledge and experiences during all the years, but one thing that I had left behind during this time was the exam anxiety, and it was never to be seen again. So, how did I do it?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

How did I overcome academic anxiety?
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I discovered the secret about my fears<\/span><\/h4>\n

Okay, okay. The word \u201csecret\u201d<\/em> might sound a little bit exorbitant, I\u2019m sure some scientists might have discovered it centuries ago. However, I wasn\u2019t aware of it and even more important: I didn\u2019t make use of it until I realized what it was. When I was around 19 or 20 I started to realize that I had in nearly every situation of my life the power and control to respond fearfully to the situation or not. It was an amazing realization for me to know that fear was just an instinctual response towards potentially dangerous and threatening situations that jeopardize my life. Having this in mind I felt like having discovered a mysterious secret of life, as it allowed me to think about threatening situations where fear was essential to save my life; exam anxiety was definitely no dangerous situation for me. All these insights I gained helped me to realize that being fearful about exams is simply unnecessary, a waste of time and ineffective.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, how did I make use of the fact that I was the one who could control nearly all of my fears? I started to tell myself:<\/span><\/p>\n

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It is my choice to respond fearful towards a situation or not!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At this point, you might either agree with me or completely disagree with my thesis, which is why I would like to show you how much control you have about your fears with some everyday examples. If a fearful person decides to ride a really fast roller coaster for the first time, it is very likely that this person will experience fear during the ride and consider it as a torture. However, whenever a rollercoaster enthusiast takes a ride he enjoys the amazing feeling of adrenalin pumping through his veins, happiness hormones start to arise and he will cheer whenever the rollercoaster makes a looping and he gets pressed into his seat. The same goes when it comes to horror movies, as there are many people who really love the fearful moments and are excited whenever a shocking scene occurs, whereas others try to avoid these sort of movies completely, as they experience pure anxiety while watching it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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SUMMARY:<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n