How Educational Psychology Can Help With Exam Anxiety

The test is done. Now what?

After the test you might be relieved, emotional, worn out physically, mentally tired, jubilant, confused, or a mix of all of these, depending on how things went. You just went through a performance, so you may well feel spent and in need of a break.

Your goals now are to recover, refresh yourself, review what happened, and improve your study skills and test-taking skills for the future, based on an analysis of your strategies and how well your executed them.

Here are ten things to focus on after the test.



1. Refresh and Release: Take some time off and let off some steam so you lower your stress levels.
   
   
2. Physical Activity Helps Recovery: Your body and mind will recover faster if you go for a brisk walk, or get some exercise.
   
   
3. See How You Did: Review your notes to see how well your study strategy matched what the test asked.
   
   
4. Rate Your Stress Control Skills: How did you do handling the pressure of the test? Did you use breathing and relaxation techniques? How well did you apply them? What would you do differently in this area next time?
   
   
5. Rate Your Will To Succeed: Did you give 100% effort right to the end? Did you do everything you possibly could to succeed? Did you focus only on the things you could control, and let the rest go?
   
   
6. Were You Test Savvy?: Did you use smart test-taking strategies? Did you approach the test strategically and plan out your approach?
   
   
7. Compare Notes: Talk to your peers after the test to see how they handled certain sections or tricky questions, from a test strategy standpoint. File this data away for future use.
   
   
8. Consult The Teacher: If there were particularly difficult questions, talk to your teacher for advice. This shows initiative and makes a very positive impression on the teacher so they might give you more extra help or the benefit of the doubt on future tests.
   
   
9. Attend Test Review: If the teacher has test review, attend. This will help cement the material into your long-term memory.
   
   
10. Assess Your Performance: Review how you did from a test psychology standpoint. What did you like? What would you change?

So there you have it, a post-test series of tasks you should perform each time. You will set yourself apart if you follow this procedure of diligence so you can not only learn before the test is given, but even learn more after the test is done. Do this and you will leverage your time and effort into deeper levels of knowledge.

The other two articles in this series deal with handling anxiety before the test and handling anxiety during the test. Good luck on your next exam!

Knowing about educational psychology and being test savvy is certainly an important part of being a good student, but top students who get consistently high grades also have a knowledge base and applied skills in stress control and peak performance. You need to know how to manage your mind, calm your emotions and relax your body so you can get into the “test zone”, that powerful, deeply focused mind-body state that gives you excellent recall, mental alertness and clarity. You need to learn these skills and become mentally tough so you can handle the extreme pressures of academia. Other mental skills training you need are visualization, confidence-building, mental readiness training and motivation skills.

To learn this set of mental toughness, zone, and stress control skills, sign up for our special Test Anxiety Stress Reduction Program. You can also take this no-cost assessment of your test-taking skills.

Test Anxiety Assessment