Test anxiety

Posted by Naomi Rockler-Gladen Oct 11, 2006

As a professor, I hate giving exams. I hate being responsible for making a whole room full of students miserable and stressed out. And this semester I teach at 8 a.m., so my poor students are extra miserable.

When exam day arrives, there are two kinds of students who are especially miserable: those who barely studied, and those who are overwhelmed with test anxiety. I’m not so concerned about those who didn’t study, because that’s their own problem. But I worry about the students who are freaking out needlessly. (They remind me of my favorite South Park character, Tweek.)

If you have test anxiety, try to put things into perspective. If you don’t do well, what are the consequences? It’s highly unlikely this one exam is will prevent you from getting a job, going to graduate school, or from maintaining your school’s minimum GPA. And no, your performance on this test is not a reflection of your worth as a human being.

There are so many worse things that can happen than a low grade on one lousy test. Let me give you some examples. When I was an undergraduate at Rutgers, a guy in my dorm was nearly killed by a Pepsi machine. When he paid for his soda and it failed to vend, he shook the machine. (Note: never, never do this!) The machine crashed down on top of him, putting him into a coma for days, and now he has to go through life being known as the guy who almost got killed by a Pepsi machine. This is a fate worse than doing poorly on an exam.

Another example: during my sophomore year, my best friend’s roommate almost burned down our dorm. As part of an art project, she glued flower petals into her scrapbook with rubber cement, and decided it would look pretty to cover the flowers with hot wax from a candle. (Note: never, never do this either!) Thankfully she was not hurt, and the fire was contained quickly. But think of it this way: if your roommate did not start a fire in your room, you are having a pretty good day,

So, keep things in perspective! Don’t be Tweek. Excessive worry about an exam is counterproductive anyway; you’re bound to do worse if you don’t relax a little. Be sure to get enough sleep, and check out my suggestions for exam week snacks.