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Anxiety and Exams

JustJuno

Hello, 

It's 42 days and counting (down) until my first A-level exam. 

And I'm really struggling with anxiety. 

English Lit is my only essay-based subject; I do get extra time, but it's not enough.

I need to get an A*, currently at an A+ on a good day (not under timed conditions).

But I'm still waiting for work back from my teacher from 4 weeks ago so I really don't know how I'm doing. It's all getting very close and whenever I sit down to do a paper, I get a wave of panic which is paralysing. If I manage to write, I write a load of rubbish. This is what happened in my mock and I got a D, and it's getting worse. I know that this panic is a bigger danger than my inability to hit the assessment objectives and if I don't get it under control, I'm in danger of blowing all my university offers.

I don't have a therapist or any way of managing anxiety. Please help me, if you have any advice it would be so, so, so much appreciated!

Thanks.

  • in reply to JustJuno

    If you are faster at typing you should be able to request doing the exam on a computer. I had that for my BA and a side benefit was that I had a room to myself to do the exam in and my own personal invigilator. Or you could try requesting an amanuensis (someone to write down your answers) or voice recognition software, which would also obviously have to be in a different space from any other examinee.

  • in reply to Martin

    Thank you and  for your responses. 

    I do have an autism diagnosis which is a couple of years old now but it's taken until only a couple of months ago to get access arrangements for exams from my school. I have desperately needed extra time for ages and haven't had it in my mocks, which I think is part of the reason my exam anxiety has gone through the roof. 

    One of the main things is motor skills - my writing speed is ridiculously slow, it takes me twenty minutes to write half a page. Not meaning to brag, but I can write better than anyone else in my class, yet I get almost bottom of the class in our timed pieces. I'm trying to find some techniques to clear my head from the panic so that I can speed up. I'm more scared of failure when I know it's my only shot; I've already deferred taking one of my four a levels and I can't retake English.

    Thanks again both for your advice.

  • My advice from personal experience is just go to the exam and do your best, exam anxiety and nerves affects everyone, even those who fake confidence and are smiling.

    The worst thing you can do is miss the exam.  I have missed several exams and I've regretted it.  I didn't go to my fifth attempt at GCE English language, so i didn't go to a decent university for my first degree, I ended up in a third rate polytechnic ( In Sheffield).  Years earlier when I moved from middle school to secondary school I didn't turn up on the day they did aptitude tests, I ended up being put in a academic inferior class where I just didn't fit in.

  • Do you have an autism diagnosis?

    If you have you can ask for accommodations to make the exams less stressful for you. Examinations in smaller rooms with fewer people, longer time to complete each exam and the facility for invigilated rest breaks.

    My own experience of examination stress was that I would become increasingly stressed until I came to the point of thinking I was bound to fail, once I accepted this inevitability of failure, the anxiety would drop enormously, down to manageable levels. I went right up the academic ladder to PhD level. In my PhD viva I was nervous for the first 5 minutes, then actually enjoyed the rest. When it finished I thought it had lasted about an hour, but in reality it had been two and a half hours.

    Also I have found CBD - legal cannabinoids (Holland and Barrett etc.) - capsules have been useful in lessening anxiety when it becomes acute.

    My daughter, who is also autistic, gained 3A* at A-level and is averaging in the high 80% range in her chemistry degree, which is nearing the end of her 3rd year. Being autistic, even with the extra burden of anxiety, is not necessarily an impediment to academic achievement. Plus A-levels can be repeated if it is needed.