Any exam is a stressful thing and all students are worrying before it, no matter whether they know the materials needed or not. An extreme fear may distract from thinking and prevent from finding an appropriate answer. Let’s analyze, which fears a common student has and how to cope with them.
The Fears Faced by Student
We all have have fears. Some of them are on the background during the whole our life, and others appear in the certain moments. Exam is a stressful situation, which activates the following fears:
- A Fear to Be Caught in Lies
A student cannot know everything, even if he/she was studying hard for a long time and listened to all what professor was saying during the course. Thus, a student is afraid of being caught on having missed something important while studying. Actually, having come to an exam student claims to know the subject, but a situation may show a different thing.
- A Fear to Seem Foolish
Foolishness is bad and everyone knows this. Foolishness is the cause of most of our failures, which may do harm to a person as well as to people, who surround him. That is why a student is afraid to seem to be a fool not knowing an answer to a certain question. This will spoil his/her reputation and show him/her in a bad light.
- A Fear in front of Authority
When a student is talking with a professor, he feels the influence it has and he appreciates his intelligence. This may distract from effective thinking and a student may feel stuck not being able to say a word.
- A Fear of Failure
If you have been working on something for long, you definitely expect a good result. When students face a situation, when the result will be shown in form of a grade for the course, they definitely are afraid that the efforts will become useless.
Ways Not to Let Your Fears Distract You
The contemporary psychology has developed a lot of methods to fight with fears. There are some critical ones, which can be removed only with the help of therapies. However, if you face the common student’s fears before taking an exam, here are a few quick solutions for you:
- The Proper Breathing
Breathing may help you to calm down.
- Take deep breaths for 20-30 seconds and concentrate your attention on relaxing.
- Make your respiration shorter than your expiration within 1 minute.
- Before a Speech or Presentation Delivery…
If you need to perform a presentation or speech, work out your jaw. Make the circle-like movements, do the back and forth movement. This will help you to feel more confident and less shy.
- Counting
Try to count from 1 to 10 and backwards. This will help you to switch from emotions to thinking. For the better effect do this a few times again trying to concentrate your attention on counting fully.
- Prepare for the Exam
Preparation adds to confidence while taking an exam. Also, in stressful situations your brain may start to work better, so you will recollect everything you have heard from your professor and read while getting ready… if you actually have been getting ready for the exam.
