Exam Result Anxiety

Exam result anxiety can be explained as stress, uneasiness or nervousness caused owing to over thinking of exam results.

All individual showing up for an exam always hope to clear the exam with flying colors. The hard work put forth in the exam preparation increases the expectation level. Exams results are seen as the parameter to judge the coming future of the candidate. Society becomes judgmental of an individual talent if he witnesses failure.

Exam result anxiety is caused due to higher expectations of parents, societal pressure, fear of being left behind fellow classmates or even due to a pressure of building a secure future in the competitive world.

Exam result anxiety if not dealt with at an early stage can also make room for depression. This post anxiety depression has lead to suicide attempts among the many students.

Few symptoms of exam result anxiety:

1. Constantly worrying about the exam outcome
2. Not able to concentrate on other activities other than thinking of the result
3. Detaching oneself from friends
4. Feeling weak or unwell when talking about the result.

Dealing with exam result anxiety

Calm your mind

Calm your mind to release exam result anxiety. You can achieve a calm mind by indulging yourself into meditation and mind relaxing yoga. After the exam instead of talking to your friends about results & immediately comparing your answers, try staying calm & take a deep breath. Spend some time alone so as to figure out solution for the stress.

Cut out negative people

It’s advisable to not talk about how possibly good or bad your exam was, with the people who tend to demoralize you. People who usually talk about results negatively or induce a sense of fear in you related to result should be avoided. There may be people out there who don’t do it purposely. Make them understand the consequences negative talking is doing to you & refrain them from talking about the result.

Surround yourself with positive peoples

Once you cut down negative people there is enough space for positive people. Be around people who focus on solutions rather than problems. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and are sure that you will excel irrespective of whatever the exam results may be.

Divert yourself with your hobby

Indulging yourself into a hobby can help you divert your attention from the exam result tension. Do what makes you the happiest. Try to upgrade or achieve a goal related to the hobby. Accomplishment in the domain that you are passionate about helps to boost your confidence and decreases your doubt about your caliber and potential.

Celebrate your hard work

You have been working very hard to gain the best result, now it’s time to repay back for the hard work done. Make some room for fun. Try out a new sport or go watch your all-time favorite movie. As working hard is the essential step towards success, so is a celebration post working hard to stay motivated. Be process oriented and not result oriented.

Talk yourself to relax

Talk to your trustworthy friends or loved ones. Let them know about your exam result anxiety and that you are trying to deal with it. You may find astonishing benefits of opening up about your worries and concerns to your people. This people believe in you and helps you to stay strong and face the coming scenario.

Face your fear

Result anxiety is seen frequently in people who are unsure if they can clear their exam. Face your fear about your result. Understand that a single exam result won’t be defining your talent to grow. Failure is the first step toward success. Reassure yourself that there have been many well-known personalities that have failed miserably in their university exams but excelled because they had talent & were passionate about their work. Be ready to accept whatever the result may be because you have given your best and outcome can no more be controlled. In case of failure just take learning from this experience with you and not emotional baggage of guilt or low self-esteem. 

Just a phase

Accept that this is just a phase and you will grow out of it. Everyone goes through a rough phase & staying strong is the ultimate solution to overcome bad time. Make it sure that you don’t succumb to a situation. Giving up should be least that you should be thinking of. Stop assuming wrong things about your caliber and your potential to shine brightly through this phase. Forget not that things that don’t kill you make you stronger.

Remind yourself of your good qualities or strengths

Whenever in doubt make sure you remind yourself of your past accomplishment. Focus more on your good qualities and strengths. Doing so will not only lower your exam result anxiety but also make you a better person.

Plans to deal with outcomes

Keep plans for both the outcomes. We all have plans after achieving the expected score in the exam, but we never keep a plan about the worst situation. To avoid yourself from post-exam anxiety or result anxiety, try to always maintain a plan b. Even if failure comes your way, you should have the handy option of upgrading your skills via various portals, doing an internship or even working part-time to strengthen your profile.

Unconditional self-acceptance

This is a result of one of your subjects, of one of your exams. Even if you fail you will fail in the given subject in that exam. The problem occurs when we consider this failure or success decides our worth. As human beings you are invaluable no exam can reduce or increase a lot your worth. So failure in that exam doesn’t make you worthless or success doesn’t make best. Exams are designed to know your skills and due to some problem or lack of study if that skill is an inadequate failure will give you a chance to learn and practice those skill again.