The Road to Success from Test Anxiety

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is one of the basic human emotions. Many people feel a certain amount of anxiety before boarding an airplane, before undergoing surgery, when going to an appointment with the dentist. This is natural for every human being.

Anxiety is a reaction that occurs when a person is under emotional or physical pressure. When we are about to start speaking in front of a group of people, our breathing quickens, we start to sweat, the sound of our heartbeat gradually fills our ears, we start to feel nauseous, and we are disturbed by a slight feeling of uneasiness. We may feel the same way when we are taking an exam that is of great importance to us. 

If we pay attention to the examples, there is a common thread. These changes in the body are not based on anything that threatens our physical existence. 

Our emotions in a situation that threatens our physical existence are called "fear". Fear is an emotional reaction, accompanied by some physical reactions, experienced when one's life, property, loved ones and place in society are threatened. 

Here we need to know the difference between fear and anxiety. In fear, there is a danger to our physical existence, whereas in anxiety we are not faced with a physical danger. We produce anxiety entirely as a result of our own thoughts. We try to escape, we feel negative emotions. Anxiety, then, is a fear of uncertain origin.

In general, people express anxiety together with feelings of pessimism, failure, worry, hopelessness, confusion about the future. This is how exam anxiety starts. "If I fail the exam, everything will be over, my life will be destroyed, I will be disgraced," are the thoughts that go through the minds of millions of students every year before taking the exam.

From a scientific point of view, it should not be forgotten that anxiety motivates the individual as long as it is not excessive. The important thing is to find our deficiencies and ways to overcome them and not to let the anxiety grow to the extent that it prevents the individual.

Causes of Exam Anxiety

Every individual needs to achieve success and self-actualization. But the meaning of success is not the same for everyone and does not depend on a single condition such as "passing the exam". A life reduced to a single option decreases success instead of increasing it. 

An analysis of how students evaluate the exam reveals that anxious students see the exam as a tool to measure personality traits. In reality, it is not personality that is tested, but knowledge competence. Those who identify success in the exam with their personality are in a wrong attitude.

Anxiety is usually expressed in words that describe feelings of worry about the future, indecision, confusion, fear, pessimism, hopelessness, perfectionism. Some examples are given below.

All or nothing: 

Anything that is not completely perfect is characterized as failure. "Either I pass this exam or I will never be successful."

Overgeneralization: 

A single negative event is generalized to all situations. "I didn't do well on my math test, which is good anyway."

Mental distortion: 

Negative aspects of events are exaggerated by not seeing the positive aspects. "I got 5 out of 20 questions wrong in the Turkish exam. It always happens like this, I will never be successful."

Overriding the positive: 

Positive events are ignored. "I got a good grade in the exam, but there are others better than me. I will never get where I want."

Underestimating success: 

The achievements of others are exaggerated and our own are minimized. "We both got the same score, but he worked harder than me, he deserved that score."

Acting emotionally: 

The truth is tried to be explained with negative emotions. "No matter how hard I try, I feel that nothing will happen the way I want it to."

Making statements of obligation:

One has the belief that one has to fulfill everything that needs to be done. "I have to study non-stop to do well in the exam."

Personality structure is also an important factor that sometimes causes anxiety on its own. Competitive, assertive, perfectionist, achievement-oriented, controlling individuals are prone to anxiety.

Individuals who are less prone to the effects of intense anxiety are self-confident, at peace with themselves, strong and versatile, able to look at life and themselves with a smile, enjoy their work and see exams as a means of self-improvement.

Adolescence, especially 16-17 years of age, is a period of rapid changes (psychological, physiological, social). Research shows that the fear of failure is one of the most anxiety-provoking situations experienced by young people at this age.

In our country, which is undergoing rapid social change, young people are also affected by different socio-cultural values and lifestyles. Society's view of young people also changes according to social needs. These stereotypes have an impact on the interaction of young people with their family, friends and school environment. The expectations and attitudes of the social environment from the young person and the opportunities provided for career choice, self-development and future planning affect the degree of anxiety experienced during this period. These show significant differences depending on the culture.

Dietary habits are another reason for anxiety in the physical environment. The coffee we often consume contains caffeine. This powerful stimulus leads to high levels of alertness and activity. It also increases the heart rate, blood pressure and causes the release of stress hormones. In this context, the best thing to do is to reduce the amount of sugar and coffee during periods of intense anxiety and load up on natural foods or vitamins.

What are the Characteristics of Anxious Individuals?

Individuals with test anxiety show some common characteristics. These are as follows:

- Individuals with high test anxiety are less successful in school and complex learning than individuals with low test anxiety.

- Female students have higher test anxiety than male students. However, test anxiety affects the success of male students more negatively than female students.

- Individuals with test anxiety attribute their failures to reasons other than themselves. These individuals are in a constant effort to succeed, win, defeat and show superiority; they are also very sensitive to external stimuli.

- They cannot forget their past failures and mistakes. They make exams a problem of personality and anxiety. They worry that failure will result in loss of value and love.

- They turn the exam into a life-and-death struggle and compare themselves with others.

- Some changes occur in the body as a result of anxiety. These are externally observable changes such as tense muscles, accelerated heartbeat, faster and more frequent breathing, paler color, yellowing, cold hands and feet, sweaty palms, and unobservable physiological changes such as changes in blood pressure and excess acid secretion in the stomach. On the other hand, the influence of genetics on anxiety should not be forgotten.

What are the Ways to Cope with Anxiety?

The first step in coping with anxiety is to become aware of the thoughts and feelings in the face of the anxiety-provoking situation. For this, you can ask yourself the following questions:

- How do my behaviors in the face of anxiety differ from other times?

- How do these behaviors affect my relationships with others?

- Which ways of coping would be more helpful for me to try?

- How can I change my reactions?

If you can change the negative emotions, behaviors and ways of thinking that cause anxiety, you can perceive things more realistically and be more flexible. You can use the following criteria to measure whether your thinking is realistic or not:

- If your interpretation of the event is shared by people around you whom you trust, you may think you are right. If these people think that you are exaggerating and reacting emotionally, you should reconsider your perception of the event.

- The way you think about things and your approach should help to solve the problem. If it helps to increase your anxiety rather than solve the problem, it is not a valid way of thinking. Sentences like "Oh no, the exam is just around the corner, I haven't finished the subjects yet" do not contribute to solving the problem. The following approach is more realistic: "I know that there is very little time left before the exam, but I have done a lot of preparation so far, and if I do my final preparations in an organized way, I can do well in the exam."

- The way you evaluate should contribute to your short and long-term goals. When evaluating events, you should direct your time and behavior by weighing which of your goals they may be suitable for. In this way, you will use your time for your goals instead of unnecessary tasks.

- Your interpretation of events should not lead you into emotional tension, but should make you feel relaxed and peaceful. "I should give this a try. I can only get it right by getting it wrong."

- You should try to reach a conclusion with realistic evidence without making generalizations based on a single event.

Now let's try to define the problem and weigh the options by thinking logically.

"How did this problem arise, how can I plan to solve it?" "Is my situation so bad, what is the worst that can happen?" Relaxation phrases could be: "I shouldn't let the failure affect me like this, I am the one who will have successes." "I need to be calmer. Maybe if I slow down my breathing it will help." "It's no use blaming myself, I should look for other solutions."

If you have successfully solved the problem, you should reward yourself: "The exam was not as bad as I thought. I will try to do better next time."

If the problem was not solved, you can think. "What happened happened. What can I do next? What can I change to avoid making mistakes? If there is nothing to change, how can I adapt to the situation?"

With this in mind, it has been observed that people who follow the suggestions below are more successful.

- Life is a constantly changing and developing process for you. In this process, there will be failures as well as successes. Do not let the failures in this period affect your whole life. They will surely be followed by successes and uplifts.

- Do not constantly strive to be successful, to defeat, to be superior.

- Instead of regretting your past failures, look for ways to succeed in the future.

- Do not see the exam as a life-and-death battle.

- See the exam as an opportunity to test your abilities, not as a personality evaluation.

- Do not think that you will lose the attention and love of your relatives if you fail.

- Eat breakfast in the morning, eat less at dinner and do not drink more than one or two cups of coffee a day.

- In order to get your priorities done, you must be able to say "no" to tasks that do not serve your goals.

- Rank your goals in order of importance. Do not move on to second and third priorities until you have accomplished the first ones.

- Do not lose precious time to time-stealers such as telephones and televisions.

What to do to succeed in the exam?

There are some fine points to be successful in the exam. These have been obtained as a result of analysis, research and statistics. These important points are as follows:

- Before starting a section, quickly review that section. Spend 10 seconds on this process before you start answering.

- Strike an appropriate balance between speed and accuracy. Excessive attention or inattention will lead to wasted time.

- If you cannot find a solution to a question after a certain amount of time has passed, leave that question and move on to the next one.

- Do not automatically skip a question because it requires too much time and seems complicated.

- Keep a watch with you and adjust it according to the exam time.

- Learn to use your time according to your own purpose and plan. Do not be overly concerned with the time that passes.

- Eliminate options that cannot answer the question.

- If you have to guess, guess quickly and do not change your mind.

- In a test, it may happen that two or three correct answers are sequentially grouped in the letter representing the same option. However, if four or more answers are grouped together in the same option, review your work on that sequence and you are likely to find that at least one of them is incorrect.

- On the answer sheet, fill in the answers completely, without borders and in bold. Avoid any marks that could cause your answers to be misread. Remember to mark only one answer for each question. 

- Develop a special coding system and mark it on the question booklet. This will make it easier for you to recognize the answers you changed, the questions you skipped, and the items you want to review.

- You may encounter some difficult questions in the exam. Do not expect to answer all questions correctly. Do not forget that in some exams a certain number of wrong answers can destroy the correct answer.

- You will be competing against time in the exam. Do not put yourself under time pressure.

Conclusion

The world is full of many things that can cause anxiety for us humans. One of the most important of these sources of anxiety is the exam. But what is more important is that we can learn to deal effectively with test anxiety. Emotional turmoil can cause us to lose energy and be less successful. However, much of what we experience emotionally is a result of the way we think.

The first step in overcoming failure is to understand what the cause of failure is. It will certainly be a temporary obstacle. Because no obstacle can be permanent. Maxwell's Rule should guide you in this regard: "Nothing is as difficult as it seems; everything is more rewarding than we expect; if something can be done, it can be done at the right time and in the right way. We just need to choose our time and our methods well and follow their requirements."