Overcoming Exam Anxiety

Obviously, school is fun but the only the only thing that is quite overwhelming is EXAMINATION. Examination might not seem pleasant but it helps to keep us on track, it helps us to recheck and evaluate how far we have understood what we have learnt so far.

source Let’s imagine what will likely happen if we as students do no write exams, I personally believe that a lot of things will go wrong, it will be very hard to track your progress and improvements.

It is of a truth that some students do not even read except the have an exams to write, that’s the only time they’ll read. Funny though but that is not helping at all because you will end up cramming and you will most likely forget everything you crammed as soon as you step out of the hall.

I have had lots of experiences trying to cram for an exams, I remember sometime like that I went totally blank in the hall and I forgot 50% of what I crammed. As a medical students cramming is the worst form of reading because whatever you read needs to applied and if you crammed you can’t apply what you learnt effectively and not just that every topic is interlinked that if you can’t remember the other ones is most likely that you will falter in the next topics.

source But I keep asking this question, what is really wrong about writing exams? Is it the fear of falling? Is it lack of confidence? I still can not figure out why.

But I discovered one common traits among student, once the exams timetable is out, we feel nervous, pressured and some people even get sick calling it “Exams fever”. I’ve actually been in that shoes before so it’s quite relatable, before I use to feel tensed and nervous during this period and it did not help at all.

The first time I wrote JAMB I felt so tensed because that was my first time and I was actually slow and uncertain, not that I didn’t study but I was deeply nervous. The result came out and it was not so bad at least I scored above 230 but I knew that was not what I wanted so I had to give it another try, the second time I learnt from my mistakes, I had to get rid of anything that will disrupt my peace of mind at that moment.

All I wanted was to feel relaxed and not tensed, I didn’t read a night to the exams, earlier that morning I just glanced through some few pages of my textbook and headed to my venue. During the exams, I felt so relaxed, I was confidence and able to answer my questions without fear or pressure, I just made up my mind to face whatever questions I was given.

I answered the ones I could and didn’t waste time one the ones I could not. At the end, the result was great and just what I wanted to secure my admission, that was when I realized that feeling nervous is not going to help anyway.

sourceHOW TO AVOID FEELING NERVOUS DURING EXAMS PERIOD

To avoid feeling nervous during exams period first you need to figure out what makes you feel nervous during that period. So I’ll list out some possible causes and the solutions to them.

1.NOT BEING PREPARED: this is one of the challenges that students face, most times you are not prepared because you have not read or there are lots of topics that are left unread and that brings you down making you feel nervous. At this point you really wish they could extend the date for the exams LOL😁, my dear even if they date for the exams is extended it will give room for further laziness and some people won’t still cover up the leftover topics because they’ll feel there is still time to read.

SOLUTION: in this case, I’ll advise you read right from the first day of lecture, not just that try and study everyday no matter how little you read, even if it is just a page , just do it everyday and that will help you cover up a least 80% before the exams. Remember the poem “A line a day makes a wise child, a line a day drives ignorance away”.

2.LACK OF SELF CONFIDENCE: this is also a silent killer that rubs you off your peace of mind. You need to try and believe in yourself.

SOLUTION: you need to learn to be confident in what you know, most times you do not need to read everything 100% but just be sure of the ones you know and don’t let the ones you do not know make you panic. Remember you don’t have to complete everything, just remember the little you have read and you are good. 70% is an A and 99% is still an A , so whether you scored 70 or 100 you still got an A. Don’t kill yourself my sister.

3. YOUR DIET: your diet should not be neglected, just because you want to study all night should not make you starve yourself. Your brain uses 2/3rd of the blood glucose so if you starve your brain cells, you won’t be able to stay focus and you can’t recall actively.

SOLUTION: eat well and drink enough water before studying, if you are to stay awake do not eat heavy meal, it will make you feel heavy and sleepy. And avoid consistent intake of coffee and caffeine to stay awake, it is not too healthy. Balance your meal with fruits and some protein foods they help a lot.

4.QUALITY SLEEP: this is very crucial, please endeavor to always sleep well before an exams, it keeps you relax and helps in quick recall.

5.DO NOT HOPE ON A FRIEND: learn to be independent, anything can always happen in the exams hall, the sitting formation can always be changed, so in no circumstances should you put all you hope on someone.

6.DON’T MISS CLASSES: this part is equally very necessary, try not to miss any lecture because some lecturers take time to give explanations on a topic and 70% of their questions might be from all they said in the class. Aside that, you might forget some things you read but you will likely remember most of the things your lecturer said in the class.

These are just the possible causes and solutions I have tried and it worked, so you could equally give it a try. I wish you the best of luck in all your exams.

Thank you all for stopping by my post.

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