“What if I missed a topic?”
“What if I fail this exam?”
“My parents want an A. What if I get a C instead?”
These are the series of questions that run through the minds of most students as the date for their exam draws near, and it is a sign that a student has exam fever. Exam fever is the feeling of fear that a student has towards his/her exam. It is the fear of scoring poorly in tests and also the fear of letting friends, family, or educators down.
Exam fever is now very common amongst students, and they often find it very difficult to overcome it. As the date for an exam draws closer, there’s a tendency that a student’s level of anxiety would increase. However, this is not an 0ffence. Like I mentioned earlier, it is common amongst students and there are actually a few factors that are responsible for it.
Causes Of Exam Fever.
1. You set a Big Audacious Goal:
You should expect to get scared when you set big goals. You know why? It’s because you’ve never done what you’re about to do! But the interesting thing is, when you eventually hit your goal, you won’t be scared of it anymore. But since it’s your first time, just take it slow and you’d be fine.
2. You’re just stressed:
Another cause of exam fever could be stress. Of course! You’ve been studying tirelessly for a long time now and you could be burnt out. You’ve been awake, burning the midnight candle, you sacrificed your fun time, and you barely even step out of the house. If this feels like you, then maybe you aren’t really scared of your exam, maybe you’re just stressed out.
3. Pressures from friends and families:
Another common reason why students develop exam fever is because of the pressures that come from their friends, families, educators, social media and so much more. For a student who is about to sit for his/her UTME exam and everyone around is expecting a score that is nothing less than 380 – there’s bound to be pressure. And in this case, it is an unhealthy one.
4. High failure rate:
Students who sit for exams like WAEC, which has a high failure rate often experience exam fever. And due to the rate at which students fail this exam, they become scared. So maybe the reason you’re scared is because you’ve heard that a lot of students that wrote that exam failed, and now you don’t think you’ve got a chance.
5. Previous failure:
As a student you could develop exam fever due to the fact that you’ve failed an exam or several exams in the past. Just like the proverb that goes thus; “once bitten, twice shy.” Past failures could be the source of exam fever.
So now that we have gone through the possible reasons of exam fever, we need to look at the ways through which you overcome it
How to overcome exam fever.
1. Rest:
Rest is so underrated!
Students often think that the best way to study is to invest all the hours in a day into reading. News flash – it doesn’t work that way. It would amaze you to know “that “when you learn something new, the best way to remember it is to sleep on it. That’s because sleeping helps strengthen memories you’ve formed throughout the day” – News In Health.
If you do not prioritize rest while you study, you’ll eventually burn out. And of course when you do, you can’t escape being scared about your exam. Resting is one of the things you should do as you study. Take enough rest because it helps you to regain strength and it even makes reading more effective.
2. Believe In Yourself.
To overcome exam fever, you need to believe in yourself because the first thing exam fever tries to fight against is your self esteem. That’s the reason why you begin to doubt yourself and question if you’re good enough.
While you prepare for your exams, you need to protect your self-esteem. One of the things you could try doing is to write out a list of self-affirmations that help you to build your confidence. You could write them out on the inside cover of your note and read them out before you read. You could write out affirmations like: My mind absorbs and processes new information with greater speed, I am a very quick learner, I will do well in this exam as I am well prepared.
If you don’t believe in yourself to do well in your exam, then you might have failed even before you sit for the exam. That’s how important believing in yourself is. No matter what, stop believing in yourself.
3. Study Hard:
Who knows?
Maybe the reason why you developed exam fever is because you’re just not prepared and ready for your exam. If this is true, then you’re bound to be scared. It’s like going out to battle without any weapons. Of course, you’d be terrified!
There’s a level of confidence you get to if you’re well prepared for an exam. If you’ve not gotten there yet, then you need to go back to your books. It’s not too late to start studying. If you had the time to read this article then I’m sure there’s still little time to study a bit. Start reading right away. However, if you’ve still got a lot of time, make sure you use it wisely by studying hard to avoid exam fever in the future.
4. Take mock tests:
Taking mock tests helps you to overcome exam fever because you get to experience the exam even before the actual exam. It helps you to identify loopholes and to cover them up. You’d also get familiar with the exam, and this gives you an upper hand over those who didn’t write any mock tests.
Considering exam fever, you should write mock tests with caution because as much as it can help you, it can also worsen your phobia for exams if you fail. When you take mock tests, make sure you remind yourself that it’s just a mock, it’s not the real exam. This way if you perform well, it would boost your morale to work harder and if on the other hand you don’t perform well, it would still encourage you to work harder. You can click here to take a mock test.
Even the best of the best have experienced exam fever, so that should give you the assurance that it can be managed. I hope that you’d try out the tips that have been shared and tell me what you think in the comments section.