Exams Are Not A Nightmare

They are usually accompanied with a sense of uncertainty and the powerlessness to control the situation. The negative stress reaction is heightened, the heart pounds, the breathing quickens and the body pumps out adrenaline. We heave a sign of relief when everything is over.

Exams are considered to be the greatest anxiety makers. Still, we all have to muddle through them in different stages of our life. Students have probably the hardest task. They know that the fact of passing or failing exams has a great impact on their whole future and therefore they take them under enormous pressure.

How to cope with the feeling of fear or panic before an exam? If we cannot eliminate stress altogether we can at least make it work for us. Stress does not have to be bad if we only know how to handle it. In fact, it can be positive because it is a kind of energy which, channeled constructively, can help us concentrate better, think more clearly under pressure and work more creatively.

The question arises, however how to turn negative stress reactions into positive actions. We should start by identifying destructive though patterns. Instead of thinking ‘I can’t’ we should rather think about what we can do right then and there.

We should also try to visualize the exam situation and ask ourselves: ‘What is the worst that could happen in this situation?’ Then ‘How likely is that to happen?’ We will almost always find that the worst is not that bad,

nd that the examiners are not monsters but merely friendly people who wish us well.



By: Sharon White