Test Anxiety

A familiar scenario
You walk into the exam room, pretty darn confident that you know the material and can pull off a good grade. You're feeling a little nervous, but not any more than at other times in the past. The test arrives, your hand is a little shaky while you're writing your name down on the answer sheet. The first two questions go fine. Then you read the third question. It seems to be coming at you from about 45 degrees off from what you were expecting. You never saw this type of question on the study materials you went over before...

Then it happens...

Everything goes blank, and even the easy questions you know you know you suddenly can't understand, let alone answer. You stare at your examination, thinking to yourself "Oh my God! I'm going down the tubes! I can't think my way out of a paper bag right now, let alone pull off a passing grade from this test!"

Ten minutes before the test is about to end, you start to comprehend some of the questions. You answer some of the easy ones. Even the difficult ones suddenly start to make sense.

But it doesn't matter any more. Time's up!

You mentally kick yourself all the way home...


An underlying physiology
A surprising number of Michigan Tech students experience test anxiety at some point in their academic career. The large number of students who come into Counseling Services for help with test anxiety is one of the best-kept secrets on campus.

The underlying physiology of test anxiety is entirely normal, but entirely self-defeating in a testing situation. As a specialized form of anxiety disorder, test anxiety occurs when the body prepares itself for perceived physical danger when the situation (in this case, a quiz or an examination) is not physically dangerous at all.

Test anxiety is a self-defeating and situationally inappropriate initiation of the body's fight-flight reaction--our visceral response to a perceived physical emergency. The symptoms of test anxiety make complete physical sense when you look at them from the angle of actual physical danger, but don't make any sense whatsoever when looked at from the perspective of your wanting to perform at your best during an academic exam.


Typical signs of test anxiety
(not everybody experiences every symptom)

  • worrying about the exam many days in advance of the test
  • a feeling like you have to go to the bathroom--sometimes two or three times--right before the test is about to begin
  • very cold, sweaty and sometime trembling hands
  • pronounced restlessness right before the exam
  • feelings of impending doom about your chances of success in the exam, combined with feelings of dread about failing the exam
  • feelings of nausea, wanting to throw up, or complete lack of appetite
  • the desire to "pig out" and eat nearly everything in sight
  • complete loss of short-term memory, "blanking out" and an inability to comprehend or answer even easy questions you know you know
  • an inability to concentrate or organize your thoughts, either prior to or during the exam
  • intensely self-critical thoughts, self-insults and self-damnation after you have noticed you are blanking out and unable to concentrate
  • the return of short-term memory and ability to concentrate either about ten minutes before the exam is over, or right after you have left the examination room.


The major causes of test anxiety

  • unrealistic expectations for yourself or for others
  • unrealistic and perfectionistic demands for performance by you and/or by your family
  • unrealistic fears of failure.unrealistically tying one's self-worth to one's performance on a particular test
  • poor study skills and test-taking techniques
  • lack of preparation
  • unrealistic need to please significant others
  • unrealistic need to compete with other students, with siblings, etc
  • a basic inability to master the material.


Treatable
Test anxiety is extremely treatable, and the success rate for students who come into Counseling Services for help with test anxiety problems is very high.

Call Counseling Services. It's easy to make an appointment to begin resolving your problems around test anxiety.