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It is a good idea to begin the anxiety reducing exercise part of your program several weeks before you take the test. There is definitely a cumulative effect.
In order to eliminate your test anxiety, you will need to reduce your everyday, on-going anxiety. People who experience significant levels of test anxiety will generally be individuals who are probably a bit more tense than average.
There is research that suggests we may inherit differing levels of reactivity in our autonomic nervous systems. That is, some of us may be genetically predisposed to develop anxiety more easily than others. By frequently practicing some or all of the exercises described here, you will be able to keep your body in a generally lower state of tension and reactivity. This is likely to prevent the development of test anxiety, and it will also make you less reactive to stressful events that previously would have thrown you.
What? Yes, breathe. Most of us breathe improperly most of the time. We tend to take quick shallow breaths and never quite get enough oxygen into our bodies.
Find a comfortable chair. Take your shoes off. Get into a very relaxed position. No cigarettes during this exercise.
Now begin to pretend that your body is like a huge milk bottle. You are going to fill the bottom first. As you inhale slowly and deeply, allow your stomach to expand. This is probably the opposite of what you’ve been taught; women, especially, try to keep their stomachs tucked in. Do it anyway! Let your belly hang out and imagine that you are filling it with air. Then fill your chest, then your throat and then your mouth. Keep inhaling.
When you are as full of air as you think you can possibly be, hold it. Now, begin to exhale. Empty the bottom of the milk bottle first; suck in your stomach and force the air out. Now empty your chest, your throat, and your mouth until you have totally emptied your body of air. You are like a huge vacuum. Push the air out. Now hold it for a minute before you start to repeat the process. Continue the deep breathing process for five to ten minutes.
Some people find it easiest to practice this exercise while lying on their backs. Try putting a book on your stomach. As you breathe in, the book should rise. As you breathe out, it will fall.
You may wish to pace yourself with counting, or you may have someone else count for you. Breathe in on a count to four. Exhale on a count of eight. You will think that this is impossible at first, but stick to it; you can do it.
Do you get lightheaded or dizzy? If so, you are breathing too fast. You are hyperventilating. Slow down. Keep it easy and controlled.
Once you have mastered this breathing exercise, practice it constantly. Your new breathing technique will begin to become automatic for you. Breathing appropriately is a central key to overcoming test anxiety.
Stand in the middle of the room. Begin to tense the muscles in your feet and ankles. Tense them just as hard and tight as you can. Hold it until you can’t stand it any longer, then let go and relax. Breathe.
Do it again. This time also tighten the muscles in your legs and buttocks, then your chest, then your shoulders. Make your hands into fists. Tighten. Tense your head, your face, your scalp. Tighten those muscles! Harder! Let go. Relax. Relax completely. Repeat the process.
Now lie down on the floor on your back. Raise your knees, put your heels on top of your fists, and thrust your pelvis up towards the ceiling. See how high an arch you can make. Hold it until you can’t stand it anymore. Then hold it even longer. Keep breathing.
Let yourself down. Relax your hands; let your legs go flat down to the floor. Close your eyes; breathe. Lie there for a few minutes. Feel your body getting heavier and heavier, and your breathing getting deeper and deeper, and slower and slower.
Repeat this exercise three or four times. When you get up from the floor, get up slowly. How are you feeling now? You may never have been this relaxed before in your life. Practicing these exercises will help you walk into your test feeling calm, serene, and self-confident.
Augmented by deep breathing, grounding will play a great role in eliminating your test anxiety. Remember, all of these exercises are based on a foundation of regular study preparation.
Stand in the middle of the room in your bare feet. Stand in your usual position. Now shove yourself in the chest. Would it be easy for someone to push you over? Now stand with your feet a shoulder’s width apart and your toes pointing straight ahead.
This is harder than it might appear to be at first glance. Most people stand with their toes pointed a bit out or in. Straight ahead! Now bend your knees. Be sure your upper torso is straight and your buttocks are pulled in. How does this feel? You are grounded now. You are like a huge oak tree with roots in a solid, powerful position. Feel your power. Try shoving against your chest again. See how solid a position this is. That is why it is used in Karate.
Put your hands in a praying position, then turn the fingers in toward your chest. Push them together just as hard as you can. Keep breathing. This is also a great breast exercise--another benefit if you are a woman. When you tire, let go and let your hands drop to your sides. Relax. Breathe. Repeat several times.
Now, put all your weight on one foot and bend into it as deeply as you can. When this becomes uncomfortable, bend into the other foot. Step back onto both feet, knees slightly bent. Relax. Breathe.
Keeping your knees bent, bend forward and drop your head and hands toward the floor. Let your head really dangle. Don’t stiffen your neck. With your knees still bent, push your buttocks up toward the ceiling. At some point your legs will begin to shake. This is a positive sign. It means that you are getting the tension out of your body. When you get up from this position, come up slowly.
Now that you have become familiar with the format of the test, mastered the material you will be tested on, and practiced the anxiety-reducing exercises regularly, it is time to contemplate what will happen when you actually sit down and take your test.
Do this the night before the test!
First, find yourself a nice, comfortable chair. Sit down in the most relaxed position that you can. Close your eyes and do some deep breathing. Now begin to imagine what is going to happen tomorrow, in a totally positive way. Imagine yourself getting up in the morning, following your morning routine, and then going off to take the exam. Imagine it in considerable detail. See yourself walking into the examination room and receiving the exam. See yourself looking at it and discovering that the answers are perfectly clear to you! You work rapidly and accurately. When you have finished you hand in your exam and walk self-confidently out of the room, experiencing the feeling of having done well. Breathe a sigh of relief and satisfaction.
Now, imagine it is several days later. You return to the examination room and you receive the results of your test. Breathe. You look. You see an excellent score. You congratulate yourself quietly and leave the room.
Rehearse this scenario a number of times. Visualization really works! Many positive results have been reported from this technique.
Now it is time to get your whole body into the act. Go out of the room. Now pretend, and act out the fantasy that you have just visualized. Stride self-confidently into the room. Imagine receiving the test. Sit down. Close your eyes. Imagine you are taking the test quickly and accurately. When you are finished, pantomime turning it in and walk back out of the room, knowing that you have done well. Feel good about yourself. Know you have been successful.
Rehearsing success will help to alter your expectancy of yourself. What you expect to happen is very likely to actually happen. However, rehearsal will only work as a supplement to good study techniques.