Test Anxiety: The Strength or Weakness of Any Medical Student
It’s 11p.m. the night before the final exam and your eyelids would have set long before the sun if it wasn’t for the caffeine forcing them open. What do I need to pass this test? What do I need to pass this module? What happens if I fail this one test, block, year… the thoughts go on. Sound familiar? Test anxiety is all too common among medical students, and really among learners at all levels. It comes in a variety of flavors some more severe than others, but one thing is for sure, each and every person has their own form of test anxiety. Some learn to deal with the anxiety and stress, and others allow it to break them down.
Before I go on, I should clarify that I am not addressing “General Anxiety Disorder” or “Panic Disorder” today, but rather the laymen term of “test anxiety”, or the normal stress and fear surrounding exams. So lets start out easy, why do we have test anxiety?
Exams carry a lot of stress, they are markers of progress and knowledge. They carry grades which determine future opportunities, and most of all they are often high risk and seem to act as barriers to progressing forwards. This applies to classroom block exams all the way to boards exams. In my time working as a tutor in medical school, I helped many students through test anxiety, and myself learned to work past my test anxiety along the way. The most common underlying theme I heard was “If I fail this… or If I only get a…” Negative “what-If” statements are generally speaking the start of the negative spiral that will spin you out of contention for success.
So knowing that we are concerned about the consequences how do we overcome this? The first step is to remind yourself that you are prepared. Provided you have been doing your “job” you have been studying and preparing all along. This is your chance to show your knowledge and demonstrate how much you have learned. You need to look at exams as opportunities rather than obstacles. As you have undoubtably been told hundreds of times, Mind over matter. It’s all about perception, your point of view over the task at hand.
Once you begin to change your view of exams, you can begin to tackle the finer aspects of your anxiety. Is it a fear of not knowing what they will ask? Is it concern that you studied the wrong material? Is it fear that you will freeze up and forget? While there are many possible causes of anxiety, an understanding of these three will often get most students through their anxiety.
First off let’s look at “not knowing what they will ask”. This is a common worry and the truth is you often will not know what examiners are going to ask. The best solution I have found is to do practice questions with the mentality that the exam question is a puzzle and its your job to figure out how your knowledge helps to narrow down answer choices or answer the question outright. Having the mindset that you are solving problems during practice questions will make the feeling much less foreign during your exam. This is especially important for USMLE and COMLEX exams.
Next up are the concerns of studying the wrong material or freezing up. First let me say that you wont freeze up eternally. If you find yourself forgetting and slipping into that flushed panic sweat that is all too familiar, just close your eyes and take 5 deep breaths. No matter what the timing is for the exam, you can always afford 5 breaths. Just try and clear your head while you are breathing. Trying to remember info during this mini-meditation defeats the purpose; so just relax. Sometimes clearing you mind will allow you to get back in the game and start teasing that info back out of your head. As for studying the wrong material, this can actually happen. While it’s not the focus of this discussion, the best bet is to do (or write) practice questions to make sure you are covering the objectives or blueprint of whatever exam you are taking. By using an outline, you can help to ensure you have covered all tested topics
If you are able to combine a new attitude towards exams with some of the tips above, I have full confidence that you will be able to slowly overcome your test anxiety. The first step is believing, both in yourself, and in the fact that you have overcome this anxiety. Convince your inner being that you have worked on this issue and understand it, and you are ready to move past the anxiety and crush your exams. I wish each and every one of you luck on your future exams and I hope this helps to shed some light on techniques to overcome test anxiety. Don’t forget to check out Thepre-medlife on YouTube and Twitter for more tips, tricks, and advice!
Until next time,
ThePre-medLife