Panic in the Exam Room

"Ok, everything's going well up to now, lets hope the next questions are easy as well."

"Wait.."

"What is this scary diagram!"

"We have never done this in class. How can he give this in the exam!"

"Ok, leave this, lets go to the next one."

"What in the world...."

"I can't do any of this !"

"I am going to fail this horribly."

I am certain that almost everyone has passed through something like this in an important exam or test. Nothing is more panic inducing at this time than thought patterns such as the one above. Even questions that are easy to handle get messed up because of the panic you are feeling. How can one handle such a situation and what is the best way to prepare beforehand? Here are some tips and tricks on how to mange the panic and nervousness you may feel during an important exam.

1. Learn breathing techniques:

Once these thoughts take hold, their effects can be ever lasting.  However,  breathing techniques are an effective way to decrease the effects of panicking and bringing back in your focus. One such example is the box breathing method. This breathing technique requires you to immediately stop what you are doing, close you eyes, and then take in a breath for 4 seconds, hold the breath for four seconds, release the breath for four seconds, hold the breath for four seconds again, and then repeat. This is a very effective method to decrease your panic while in the exam room. Remember, you will almost never be able to find the solution unless you are calm and controlled. 

2. Reread Difficult Questions:

Often, a question will contain a very complex diagram or an immensely long question with difficult english can come up. Truth be told, such questions only appear to be hard. If you calm ourself down completely and then reread the question at least 3 times with an active and calm brain, you are sure to understand what the question is or what it demands from you. Additionally, sometimes you just have to start writing the answer or starting you answer with whatever method you are planning to use. Most likely, such questions aren't even that hard, they are just meant to scare you and take advantage of your panic. Smart students never leave a question just by looking at it. 

3.Attempt The Parts :

Often, questions are divided up in parts, especially for maths. It also happens that the answer for the first part may be used in the other parts. What happens is that when students are unable to do the first part, the don't even bother to read the other parts and just leave the question. Students end up losing many points because of this disastrous strategy. Smart students realise that it is possible to salvage a question by at least attempting the other parts. In subjects such as O levels or A levels Math, even if you get the wrong answer in one part and you use it in the second part, full marks are awarded for the second part as long as you do it correctly. Thus it never hurts to try to read and attempt certain parts of the difficult question.