The anxiety that most students experience before and during exams is normal, and is a common occasional behavior as long as it maintains acceptable grades. It is considered a positive motivation and is required to achieve motivation towards fruitful achievement. However, if it takes on abnormal symptoms such as continuous lack of sleep, loss of appetite for food, lack of mental focus, and the emergence of some thoughts Obsessive compulsions, and some emotional and physical disorders. This is the state of test anxiety that we are about to talk about and emphasize ways to prevent and treat it, based on the psychological law called the Brix-Dodson law, which states: “The greater the anxiety (natural anxiety), the greater the level of concentration and performance.” “Whenever anxiety reaches the level of pathological anxiety, this leads to a decrease in concentration.”
Reasons for anxiety about exams:
a. Reasons related to the student himself, including:
– Lack of self-confidence.
– Expect failure and failure.
– Competition with a colleague or relative, and the desire to outperform them.
– Fear of the family’s reaction and disappointment, and the family sometimes threatens him with punishment.
– Lack of early, good and adequate preparation for exams.
– The student believes that he has forgotten what he studied during the school year.
– The student feels the lack of time remaining for the exam.
– Fear of the subject teacher, meaning that there is an unhealthy relationship between the student and the teacher for some reason.
B. Reasons for parents, including:
– Reprimanding the student or pressuring him to pass the exam, otherwise he will be rewarded or punished.
– Parents have high expectations for their son’s achievement and their expectations for high grades, as some parents put psychological pressure on their children to excel without taking into account their ability and potential, and the student cannot achieve them to satisfy them, and here he is exposed to great psychological pressure that would make him lose the ability to concentrate.
– Comparing the student with a colleague or a relative who is superior to him. Which leads to his frustration and hinders his progress.
– Imposing a specific specialization on the student, without paying attention to his inclinations and desires (university and high school levels).
– Social family problems or problems between parents that expose children to psychological pressures, which consequently affects their educational attainment, which leads to fear of exams.
Not giving the student enough time to prepare for the exam may put him under pressure
– Psychological and therefore unfocused study
How to overcome exam anxiety:
– When the exam date approaches, work on collecting the material and setting the appropriate time needed to study it with complete comfort.
– Rely on understanding the material first and not on fingerprinting it. This is much easier than memorizing the material.
– The subject must be studied by developing a special study program for the subject. One must begin studying a topic and complete it completely, and not abandon it and start with another paragraph.
– Work to provide a calm and comfortable atmosphere for studying, study at the table and ventilate the study room, so that it receives sufficient oxygen and has sufficient lighting.
– Know that anxiety and stress lead you to distraction, forgetfulness, and confusion, so try to make your self-confidence high
– Work on good and early preparation from the beginning of the school year, and make optimal use of time.
