How To Handle Exam Anxiety

Presentation Lee McKing and exam anxiety

Which is pretty big when you are a child

And also still scary when you are a teen or an adult

Alright first up, what is exam anxiety?

It’s pretty straight forward that you might have exam anxiety when you feel anxious about exams

Add a pinch of fear, a pot of dread, and surrounded by stress and worries

Heck, sometimes you even get nightmares before your exams

Or even freeze and forgot everything you learn when you finally see the paper

If you experience some of these things (or if your child does) then you (or your child) might have exam anxiety

Straight off, I’m not going to tell you not to panic cause if you could do that, you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now (whether it’s for yourself or for your child)

However, if you are just having some nervousness or worry but it doesn’t jam you up for studying or doing your exams

Then that’s normal nervousness or worry, ok?

Only if you start to experience the harsher symptoms like disturbed sleep, freezing etc, then yea, you might have exam anxiety

So How Do I Handle Exam Anxiety?

I will honestly tell you the fastest way to not only handle, but completely resolve exam anxiety is to see me for a hypnosis session

Which means it’s completely gone!

However, you might want to try some conscious ways first by yourself and see if these helps

And if they don’t, you can consider looking for me

  1. Remember to breathe
    • you’ll be surprised how many people forget to breathe when they get hit with anxiety (me included for other issues)
    • so whenever you feel your anxiety, fears etc coming in, close your eyes and breathe deeply and hold before releasing
    • do 5 to 10 counts and you might calm your nerves enough to focus
  2. When possible, do 5 to 10 minutes of quick exercise before your exams
    • exercise has a dual effect which is great
    • first it loosens your muscles so you are not as tense
    • secondly it releases chemicals in your brain such as serotonin, endorphins and dopamine etc which makes you happy and reduces stress
    • as an added bonus, jog on the spot before you study AND before you take your exams
  3. Consider essential oils for relaxation and a good night’s sleep
    • chamomile essential oil is considered good to help one be calm and improve sleep
    • but you can find your own best essential oils to help you
  4. Do 10 minutes of meditation before you study
    • meditation can help you to clear your mind, relax and focus
    • doing meditation before you study will help you in learning as well
    • as an added bonus, practice meditation every day for a more holistic approach
  5. Imagine you have completed all your exams and you are free!
    • this is a nifty trick if you can apply it correctly
    • doing this can “trick” your brain into believing the exams are over so there is no danger, anxiety or stress anymore
Lee McKing seek help

I Tried And It Didn’t Work For Me

Ok so you (or your child) tried some of the above and it didn’t work

In which case, your issue might be a bit more serious and thus, you can consider hypnosis to resolve this

You can read this to know more about hypnosis first

Now if you are suffering from exam anxiety, it’s pretty easy to get in touch with me and we can arrange a chit chat

If it’s your child having exam anxiety then it might be slightly trickier

This is because you want to help your child, but maybe your child doesn’t see it as a problem to solve yet

For example, a worse case scenario is that your child might have exam anxiety because you put too much pressure for studying and displaying exam anxiety lightens the pressure

In such a case, you might need hypnosis too so that your “pressure” about your child’s results doesn’t hinder your child’s learning

Other than this, your child needs to be open and trust me (or the specialist that you are seeing)

Let Me Share A Case Study

A lady contacted me about a week before her daughter’s Primary School Leaving Examination or PSLE and we arranged a chat and subsequently a hypnosis session

The 12 year old girl had exam anxiety

She was suffering from lack of sleep due to extreme worry, tensing up before her exams and unable to focus

During the hypnosis, she found herself in an underground place, and a tree root turned into a ladder so she could climb out

She found a pencil lead (which gave her stress) and after reconciling with it, it transformed into a dove (which now gave her peace)

Soon after I brought her out of hypnosis and they went home

A week later, after her first examination for her PSLE, I texted her mum and ask for some feedback

Hello. She said that she was less scared and less anxious than she normal be. She also said that she was able to focus and had less mental block than the previous school exams and was able to sleep fairly well the past few nights. So far looks positive!! Thank you!!

Mum of 12 year old girl for PSLE

And that’s just in 1 session

Finally, to conclude

Everyone has a slightly different construct for exam anxiety

So if the conscious ways I shared earlier doesn’t help

Have some thoughts about who you can seek help from

And I wish you all the best!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *