test anxiety

[GMOpNsOTW9J]

Hi,

I just failed an exam. I was really nervous and couldn't sleep the night before.
I'm working towards a bachelor's degree. I'm about halfway through. Now I've got another try in about four months. If I would fail again, I would have to take an oral exam instead. Which would also be my last try.
Now studying is really the only thing that keeps me going. Everything else in my life is not worth mentioning.

As you can imagine I have a lot of anxiety that I might fluke my next exam.

Do you guys have any tips how to handle that kind of stress?

Thanks

 

[Ash]

Do you know why you failed and by how much? Speak to your lecturers and find out what you need to improve over the next four months. Tell them and/or your personal advisor how you feel and ask for study advice and support.

Then come up with a healthy study plan. No staying up all night. You need to rest and eat properly and have a life as well as studying in order to do so effectively. Everyone that I know who did best treated it like work. Daytime in the library with regular breaks and an hour for lunch. Evenings for resting. Weekends for living.

I hope it works out for you.

 

[greebo6]

There's no shame in failing an exam and it doesn't mean you'll fail the next one. Everyone fails a test or exam at some point and really , I do mean everyone. It happens and it hurts but you can bounce back in the next one.
Talk to your lecturers ,confide in friends and ask for some advice/support going forward. Don't be nervous as your lecturers/teaching staff have seen it all before and won't think badly of you at all. They'll want to help.
Above all don't beat yourself up about it. You really can still do this. Good luck.

 

[GMOpNsOTW9J]

Hi,

thanks for your responses. I got 18 out of 50 points and needed 25. So I wasn't too far off. Maybe I would have done it if I had not been that nervous.

Anyways, quadriplegia makes living and studying really hard for me. But I use studying as this form of escapism. Right now my biggest worry is, that I might not have this escape anymore, if I fail the test again. It is the only thing, that keeps my mind of all the bad things in my life.
Somehow I have to make this exam less important to me, but I don't know how.

 

[GMOpNsOTW9J]

I took the test again yesterday. It went well. Now back to existential dread and fearing the next exam.
So is life. At least for me.

 

[Soupster]

I took the test again yesterday. It went well. Now back to existential dread and fearing the next exam.
So is life. At least for me.

Congratulations! I'm glad you were able to pass. I have a friend who gets extreme test anxiety. Here in the US, this can actually sometimes qualify as a learning disability and require that you be allowed testing accommodations. The accommodation varies depending on the specifics of your situation. It might be worth looking into if this is something that continues to plague you.