An encouragement to any student who suffers from exam anxiety is that she is not alone. According to the University of Alabama Center for Teaching and Learning, exam anxiety is a common disorder and is experienced by many in the same manner.
Evolution
According to the University of Alabama Center for Teaching and Learning, evolution plays a major role in the cause of exam anxiety. When a human being feels threatened in some manner, the evolutionary "flight or fight" response kicks in. However, in a classroom examination setting, fighting or leaving are not really options, which increases anxiety.
Expectations
Both the University of Alabama center and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Campus Health Services state that self-expectations and self-esteem are major factors in exam anxiety. If a student with low self-esteem expects to fail an exam, he most likely will cause himself to worry about the consequences of his failure, which in itself will cause him to do poorly.
Procrastination
If a student does not prepare for an exam, she may feel pressured and guilty during the actual exam period.
Approval
A student also may worry about approval from friends and family, fearing that if he does poorly on an exam he could lose that approval. This puts a lot of pressure on the student, which can cause low self-esteem, another reason for anxiety.
Solutions
According to the UNC-Chapel Hill Campus Health Services, the best ways to solve exam anxiety is to relax, meditate and practice taking the exam in the classroom outside of class time. If the exam anxiety is severe and is not solved using these, techniques the best course of action is to seek professional counseling.
Tags: exam anxiety, University Alabama, According University, According University Alabama, Alabama Center
