How to banish your test anxiety for good

Perhaps one of the most important questions that educational researchers have asked over the years is whether test anxiety has an impact on grades.

Long story short, it does. If you are stressed out during an exam, you will likely get lower grades than if you’re not stressed. Obviously, this is bad news for students.

So, how can you make sure stress doesn’t get in the way of you earning the grades you deserve?

Research indicates two things you can start doing right now:

1) Stop the habit of worry dead in it’s tracks

If you’re in an exam worrying about this or that or the other, you are using up a lot of mental energy. This energy might be put to better use if you spent it on, oh I don’t know, actually answering the questions in front of you perhaps?

It seems stupidly simple, but it shocks me that students are not often taught the skills they need in order to actually stop worrying.

This is part of the reason why StudyHacker exists.

In order to stop worrying about absolutely anything, follow this process. It works better than a charm!

1. Imagine if the worst that could happen actually DID happen…

2. How can you make it not so bad?
3. Create a situation where no matter what happened, you are winning anyway

Using this technique will put you in the position where no matter if you got 0%, 100% or anything in between, you will be winning anyway. See, no reason to worry before or during an exam in this case!

What if you manage to mostly stop worrying about your grades but still secretly hope to go really well?

2) Improve your study skills

Just because you know how to sit at a desk reading through your textbook, it doesn’t mean that you know how to study.
Researchers found that reducing worry frees up mental energy for students to focus on actually answering exam questions. However, if students have not studied well, they wouldn’t actually have the information they need stored in their memory.

Overcoming the habit of worry will help you to open up your memory gate and allow all the information that you’ve studied to come through during the exam. This gate is shut tight when you are stressed out.

But if you haven’t studied well, then there is likely to be very little information available for you to draw from. Even if you aren’t stressed and can access any information stored in you memory.

Good study skills will make sure that you have all the information you need available to you in the exam. Using the 4 Phase Study Plan will make sure that you develop these skills into time.

To access this plan for free, fill out the contact form on the Study Hacker home page and it’ll be sent straight to your inbox!