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How to Overcome Test Anxiety: Tips and Techniques

Reviewed by Aaron Horn, LMFT · October 26, 2020 ·

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Doing well on tests can serve you well in life. It can help you pass classes, get a degree, or advance your career. Yet, for those with test anxiety, taking a test can feel like torture. These feelings are distressing, and they can affect your performance. Understanding and dealing with this problem can have many benefits. Here’s what you should know if you think you might have test anxiety.

Test Anxiety Statistics

Test anxiety is a significant problem for many students of all ages. Here are a few  statistics  on test anxiety to give you an idea of its prevalence and effects.

• Between 10 and 40 percent of students experience test anxiety.
• Anxiety disorders affect 18 percent of adults, but only one-third of them seek treatment.
• Increased standardized testing increases test anxiety.
• Among students with test anxiety, those with poor working memory had worse test results than those with good working memory.

Test Anxiety Definition

Test anxiety is a type of performance anxiety that only happens before and during an exam. When you have test anxiety, you feel tense and apprehensive before or during a test. This anxiety can lead to poor test performance.

Test Anxiety Symptoms

If you have test anxiety, you know exactly what the experience is like. The most obvious symptoms may be the feelings that go with it. There are also some symptoms that affect your thinking and your body.

You may feel stressed, helpless, disappointed, fearful, or inadequate. Your thoughts may circle round and round as you dwell on failures from the past. Your mind may go blank or random thoughts may race through your mind.

People with test anxiety usually have trouble concentrating and may procrastinate in preparing for a test. Negative thoughts fill your mind, including thoughts that others may do better than you will.

You may feel physical symptoms too, like headache, increased sweating, nausea, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, and a feeling of faintness.

Why Does Test Anxiety Happen?

Everyone is different, but there are some common reasons why test anxiety happens. First, you may be intensely afraid of failure, especially if the test is critical to your success.

Some people have test anxiety because they don’t prepare well enough. A circular pattern can develop, where putting off studying leads to test anxiety, leading to more lack of preparation.

If you have had bad experiences or low test results in the past, those memories may bring on negative thoughts and feelings when you take tests later.

If you’re a perfectionist, doing poorly on an exam is even more upsetting to you than those who aren’t. Your self-criticism can cause you to do even worse on tests than you would otherwise.

How To Overcome Test Anxiety

Any kind of anxiety can be distressing. The first thing you may want to do is find out how much your anxiety is affecting you. You can take a quick  anxiety test  online to discover the severity of your symptoms. The next step is to learn how to get rid of test anxiety.

How To Deal With Test Anxiety On Your Own

You can do several things to help yourself with test anxiety. First try out the following tips. Then you can then develop strategies to use when you need to take a test later in life.

Test Anxiety Tips

Use these tips on the day of your exam to stay calm and increase your performance.

• Get a good night’s sleep the night before the exam.
• As you prepare yourself for the day’s exam, turn on some music that makes you feel calm and relaxed.
• Eat a healthy meal or snack before you go.
• Stay hydrated throughout the day of the test. Bring a bottle of water with you to drink right before the exam.
• Limit how much caffeine you drink before the exam to avoid the increased anxiety it can bring.
• Take some time to gather everything you will need during the test. Set them out early rather than trying to remember and grab your pencils, calculator, and any other important items on the way out the door.
• Bring earplugs and use them if noises in the room distract you.
• Get to the exam room early to avoid the tense feeling that comes with rushing to make it in time.
• Choose a seat where you feel most comfortable and can clearly see anything necessary to take the exam, such as questions or math problems on a whiteboard.
• Practice deep breathing whenever you feel tense or anxious during the test.
• Don’t rush to answer. Instead, read the test instructions and each question slowly until you understand them.
• Focus on one question at a time.
• Use systematic muscle relaxation to ease tension in your body.
• Stay mindful of the present moment; avoid getting lost in thoughts of the past or future.

Test Anxiety Strategies

The idea of strategies usually involves planning. Consider what you can do as a part of an overall plan to eliminate test anxiety. Exam anxiety doesn’t have to stop you from achieving your highest goals if you develop an approach that you can use repeatedly.

One strategy is to start studying early. Having test anxiety can make preparation seem like a scary reminder of the test to come. However, when you push past that feeling and study anyway, you can reduce your anxiety before and during the test.

Study in a place that’s similar to the place where you will take the test. Try to find a space set up similarly in an environment with the same types of noises and distractions.

Another strategy is to take some time to develop better studying and test-taking skills. Your school may offer classes or workshops to teach you how to improve your academic abilities. As you become more proficient at studying, your feelings of inadequacy will likely decrease.

Develop self-care habits that help you during classes, self-study, and exams. Make a habit of eating a healthy diet, staying hydrated, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and doing things you enjoy.

One of the best strategies for feeling more confident about taking tests is to get in the habit of talking to your teacher or professor about tests as soon as you know they’re coming up. If you can, find out what subjects will be covered, and what level of performance they will require. Uncertainty can increase your anxiety. If you have any questions about the material or the exam, don’t hesitate to ask your teacher.

Can A Therapist Help With Test Anxiety?

Knowing how to overcome test anxiety isn’t always easy. That’s why many people still need help, even after trying the tips and strategies that experts recommend. A counselor can help you develop new thought patterns and beliefs that will help reduce your anxiety.

TIPS TO CONQUER TEST ANXIETY

Improve Your Self-Esteem

People with low self-esteem are more likely to suffer from test anxiety. So, improving your sense of self-worth and acceptance can be extremely beneficial. A part of this process is examining the negative thoughts behind your test anxiety. Then you can replace those unhelpful beliefs with positive thoughts about yourself.

Deal With The Past

A counselor can allow you to express your thoughts and feelings about distressing past events. Whether those events are directly related to test-taking or not, dealing with the past can help you in many ways. It can help you feel calmer, more in control, and more self-confident when you resolve issues that negatively impact you.

Overcome Fears

Many people with test anxiety have panic attacks or intense fears related to test-taking. Overcoming those fears, of course, helps you feel more relaxed during the test. Exposure therapy may be beneficial if you fear being in an exam room.

Here’s an example of how it might work: Your counselor shows you images of rooms where tests are taking place. Next, you sit in a similar space. After that, they may arrange for you to sit quietly in the actual exam room where you will take a test. They are with you all along the way, encouraging you and offering you suggestions for reducing your anxiety. Finally, you go and take a test on your own, and afterward, you discuss it with your counselor to gain even more insights. Sometimes, counselors can use virtual reality programs to start this process.

Set Realistic Expectations

Perfectionism may be the root of your test anxiety. If you expect yourself to ace every test, you are naturally going to worry that there might be some questions you can’t answer or that you’ll make a mistake and blow your perfect record.

However, through counseling, you can explore your expectations and consider whether they are realistic or not. You can learn to accept the idea that expecting perfection is usually unrealistic and doing well is good enough.

Learn Coping Skills And Stress Reduction Techniques

The tips above mentioned some of the coping skills you might learn from a counselor. But during therapy, your counselor can guide you as you practice relaxation techniques. They can help you learn the coping skills that work best for you. They can point you to more specific information and tools to help you manage your stress and anxiety. They can give you worksheets that help put your new knowledge into practice.

What Happens When You Overcome Test Anxiety

Test anxiety can make you miserable. At the same time, it can interfere with your test performance. But once you take the right steps to overcome it, your world may go through a dramatic transformation. You’ll feel more comfortable going into an exam. You’ll probably get higher scores and a higher grade point average. You may even start looking forward to the excitement of taking a test and showing what you know. If you struggle with test anxiety, learning to deal with it may be the first step to greater success and happiness.

DO YOU HAVE ANXIETY?

Everyone has concerns now and then. It’s natural to be a little nervous in situations that involve risk. However, having an anxiety disorder is different. It can seriously affect your daily life and your ability to reach your long-term goals. One way to get an idea of whether you have an anxiety disorder is to take an  anxiety test  online. Once you know whether you have a significant problem, you can focus on finding out your unique answer to “What is good for anxiety?”

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are signs of test anxiety? What are 3 causes of test anxiety? How do I overcome test anxiety? Is test anxiety a real thing? Why do I cry before exams? Why do learners go blank? How do I gain confidence before a test? Why do people fear tests? What are the two types of test anxiety? How common is test anxiety?

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Test Anxiety Tips: How to Overcome Exam Fear

Table of contents.

What causes test anxiety?

The fear of failure.

Test anxiety (or “exam fear”) usually stems from the fear of failure. You can be afraid of failing regardless of your past experiences: 

• Maybe you have never failed anything and get more afraid with each test you pass. 
• Maybe, since you were a child, you’ve tied your self-worth to your performance.
• Maybe you have failed a test before that you were sure you aced.

Whatever the reason – a lot of students know the crippling fear of not living up to expectations and simply not being able to succeed. 

Healthcare education can be daunting 

Medical and nursing school can be particularly anxiety-inducing since they are an entirely different ballgame from what you may have experienced before: 

• Study habits that got you through school or college suddenly don’t cut it anymore. 
• You might have been among the best your entire life, and suddenly the competition is much stronger. 
• You may have breezed through schooling before, but now feel like you’re trying to drink out of a water hose with how much information is thrown at you. 

A lot of students feel unprepared and end up in a state of freezing when faced with the much higher pressure, workload, and complexity due to fear and overwhelm, especially in high-stakes test situations. 

Nervousness, test anxiety, and exam phobia 

While a certain degree of nervousness before an exam is normal, if the fear is severe enough to keep you from focusing and applying your knowledge and skills in a test situation, it can become a serious issue blocking your success. 

Some people experience an extreme form of test anxiety, called exam phobia. This is when the fear gets debilitating and completely keeps them from getting through and performing in test situations. Many who struggle with this will avoid test situations by postponing exams, or simply not showing up. Of course, this can seriously affect one’s studies and it is worth seeking professional help. 

So, what now? 

We want to state one thing here: You’re not alone in this, it’s not you, and being afraid does not mean you’re not cut out for your dream career path. 

It is much more likely that you have not yet mastered a tool set that works for you and sets you up with the confidence in your own abilities that you need to calmly tackle an exam. 

Healthcare courses demand more than average study habits that might have sufficed in earlier educational settings. This isn’t a reflection of your capabilities but rather the nature of the beast—healthcare training is tough! Success in healthcare exams requires not just hard work but also smart work. This includes adopting: 

• Advanced productivity tools 
• Solid time management strategies
• Study techniques specifically tailored to manage the voluminous and complex material.

Below, we will go over additional measures that are helpful to specifically tackle test anxiety, set you up with better coping abilities, and help you bring your best to the table on test day. 

Strategies to alleviate test anxiety 

#1 practice anxiety relief techniques  .

Tried and true anxiety relief techniques can be extremely useful for immediate relief in the moment, but become more effective if they are practiced regularly. Well-known examples you could try include progressive muscle relaxation, breathing techniques, meditation, thinking positively, pointing out items around you to remind you that you are safe, and more. Everyone is different and it is definitely worth trying out which ones work best for you. 

#2 Remember your “why,” and how far you’ve come  

“Medicine is a calling, not a profession.” – Going into the healthcare field, you probably are a driven individual who had their own personal motivation why you chose this difficult path. Remember your ultimate goal, why did you want to do this in the first place? Then, understand that it is a scary path but it leads you where you want to be. If you can accept anxiety as a part of this path, it becomes a necessary challenge on your way to reaching your goal, one more thing to conquer, rather than a struggle you feel like should not happen. 

#3 Fix your time management 

This can be learned! You’re not either just bad or good at it, this is a skill you can practice over time. Just like cramming doesn’t work as well as continuously studying, keeping up good time management techniques over time will make things easier, not trying to follow a rigid schedule directly before an exam when you’re otherwise not used to it. Our brains like routine! 

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.  

Here are some starting points to help you assess and improve your time management: 

• Avoid procrastination: Tackle tasks in small, manageable steps to prevent last-minute rushes which can spike stress levels.
• Establish routines: Consistency in your study schedule builds habits that make prolonged focus easier.
• Limit distractions: Be deliberate about your use of social media and other distractions. Time spent browsing can often be better used revising or resting. 

#4 Take care of yourself 

We all know the drill: exercise, sleep, social relationships, good nutrition, routine. We know it, and yet it is hard to prioritize taking care of yourself when the stressors pile up. But: making time for this is what helps you perform your best. 

Keeping things in perspective e.g. with journaling, regularly checking in with yourself can help you monitor your health and emotions and address negative changes early on. 

The more stable you are overall, the more you can feel able to take on a high-stakes challenge. 

Free download: test anxiety worksheet

Download the PDF and take time for yourself to understand your stressors better!

#5 Don’t run away from your feelings 

For a lot of us, when we experience negative emotions, our first instinct is to suppress them or distract ourselves. Especially if you feel like you should not be nervous or feel shame around your nervousness, it can be hard to accept the feeling. While distraction can sometimes save you from anxiety spirals, it is often more helpful to be aware of your emotions not just in your mind, but to actually feel them in your body. Tools like progressive muscle relaxation can tackle anxiety on a physical level, and movement can help you get tension out. Dogs shake to get rid of stress – and it’s not a terrible idea for humans to try either! 

#6 Look for support – and be careful what you let in 

Study groups and exchanging worries with your study peers – BUT it’s easy to get sucked into other people’s anxiety spirals. Focus on yourself when you need to. Turn to family and friends for distraction and support and to remind yourself that this upcoming exam is not the only thing that matters in your life. If exam fear significantly impacts your academic life, talking to a therapist might be worth a try! 

#7 Come prepared and become a master planner 

Walking into exam day feeling you’ve been thrown into a situation you’re not prepared for is a reliable recipe for anxiety. Come prepared! Have a test-taking strategy in place (like approaches to specific question types, answering simpler questions first), practice the test conditions beforehand, and prepare checklists for organizational to dos around the exam early on – stressing over organizational things you could have researched and taken care of beforehand only adds to your anxiety on test day.

Arrive early, read the tasks carefully, and make sure the actual exam contents are all you need to worry about on test day. 

Don’t let exam anxiety keep you from reaching your goals. By understanding its roots and employing strategies to build resilience and manage time, you can significantly alleviate your stress. This post collects strategies you can try to address exam anxiety  – but that being said, if the test anxiety controls much of your academic life and hinders your performance, consider seeking help from a professional. 

Remember, each exam is a stepping stone, not just a challenge. 

With the right tools and mindset, you can approach them with confidence and calm, ready to succeed.

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Further Reading

Why Can’t I Stop Procrastinating? How to Overcome the Medical Student’s Nightmare

Set Up Your Study Space for Success: Staying Healthy While Studying

A Medical Student’s Mental Health

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