I need help with my severe anxiety. I feel like my anxiety has really brought my test scores down as I feel like I do study enough. Maybe I’m not studying correctly but I know that even though if it wasn’t for test scores, my anxiety is still affecting my everyday life too much.
Test anxiety alone does not qualify as a disability so you would not receive accommodations. If anxiety intrudes on multiple aspects of you life you may need professional evaluation. Generally, it is necessary to learn how to control your anxiety that works for you. You study well so how do you know how well you actually know the information. Tell yourself about about what you know and fill in missing pieces. I finally would ask myself to make up a question that I could answer directly that would challenge the teacher.
Anxiety is different from fear because it is an poorly defined: you can’t really say what you are afraid of. Fear is doing really badly on the test. If you are prepared for the test, develop soothing strategies. Don’t pant, but take deep breathes, forcing them as much as needed. Keep your hands lose by shaking them. Read the question and answer it in your head. Then look for the answer, find it and mark it. The other choices are their to trap the unwary who don’t know better. You do, move on. If you don’t have an immediate answer read thru the choices. If you see the right answer and mark it and move on. Don’t waste time chewing your pencil. Your goal is gathering points by answering as many items correctly as you can during time limits. I never wore a watch to keep me from checking my time left.
My purpose was answering as many questions correctly as I could; I was not charged with timing the test.
Your goal is collecting the points of items you know. Let your brain loose! You studied with your brain so let it do what you had taught it to do. If necessary take a few seconds to calm yourself and then move on as needed. Mark answer spaces of items you skipped and then go back to them at the end. Put your time into answering more items completely. This is the strategy I used successfully for years. I combined knowledge with relaxation strategies and time management. I was never ever to remember specific questions, but knew from experience that I had most likely met my goal. My value as a person or scholar didn’t waiver by test scores. Just regular old anxiety made me wonder about myself, but I reviewed my accomplishments. An anxiety disorder waxes and wanes, but never goes away. It is something I have to manage.