when you screw up your exam? :( how to stop the nerves?

[The Usual Student]

Hey so I was quite prepared for my psych exam, but I ended up crashing and burning around half way through the exam.I have been doing really well on SACS through the year, i was close to rank 1 for unit 4.After this exam i don't know if even a 40 is possible. The reason is crewed up was because I was so anxious as this is my first VCAA exam. I was really sacred and the second i hit a question i didn't know i freaked out, then my mind stopped working and everything was a blurr evn though i knew my content well I really don't want this to happen to my subjects next year

Essentially i wanted to ask a few things
1) How do you control your nerves during an exam, like do you take a quick break half way ?
2) How do you prepare yourself for exam atmosphere?
Like the mentality or psychology of taking an exam is what is holding me back from doing well, I just can't seem to get my mind together. pls help?

[Alter]

First of all, I'm sure you didn't go as badly as you may think. We are our own worst critics, and it's very hard to guess how well you went after a long exam. So keep your head up, you never know until you get your study score back and you might pleasantly surprise yourself.

I recall being extremely frustrated after my psych exam last year as I started talking to people about the questions and my answers never seemed to match up. It's best to just move on and don't think about whether you got one mark or another. At the end of the day, I got a score which, although it wasn't the best, was something I was genuinely surprised and really happy with.

In terms of fixing the problem with nerves, there's no clear-cut solution for everyone. However, doing practice exams in the same environment you will do the actual exam is one of the best ways to prepare yourself psychologically. You may have already done this, so you could just try focus on changing your psychology attitude towards exams. Perhaps you're weighing your results too heavily. This is often easier said than done, but it's still worth mentioning.

If you start freaking out during an exam, just take a minute or two to relax and re-evaluate what is giving you an issue. Some questions are more scary than others, so maybe you just need to come back and tackle some different questions to get your confidence up. VCAA aren't always trying to trick you, so as long as you give it your 100% and know that you studied well, you can still keep going.

[Jesss1234]

It is very normal to feel horrid after an exam, regardless of how well you went, the atmosphere, environment of exams just breeds intense anxiety - so don't worry, your feelings are very justified! You might just surprise yourself when you get your results, so try not to be so freaked out. The psych exam this year WAS hard, as long as you knew your content, and prepared well, I think you'll be fine.
 
As far as future exams, I'm assuming you're a year 11 as this is your first exam? So next year you'll have the rest of your exams? To reduce anxiety as much as possible:
-Do as MANY practice exams in the SAME ROOM (if possible) as your exam. Eventually you'll come to understand that all exams are the same, and there is no reason to be anxious because you know your stuff!
-Be confident! I can assure you that a major part of exams is just having the confidence to keep up motivation and resist burning out. Just keep telling yourself "I can do this. I know my stuff".
-It might also be worth looking into "rest breaks". Due to my anxiety, I'm eligible for "rest breaks" throughout my exam where I get 30 minutes of time to just breathe and relax. I'm not allowed to write or read the paper during the breaks, but I can just, collect myself, plan my answers, and think about what to write. They are very useful to calm yourself down. If you think you have an anxiety or mental disorder of some kind (or can convince your vce coordinator you do lol), you may be eligible for these breaks in
your exams next year. There is a WHOLE range of reasons why people can get these rest breaks (death in the family, ADHD, etc), so perhaps it may be worth researching if you are eligible?
Best of luck with the rest of your exams! Remember that you are the only thing stopping you from achieving. Be confident, determined, persistent, and you'll have no reason to be anything but successful x

[sjayne]

I suffer from severe anxiety and honestly you know the one thing that has helped?
Practise. I remember being terrified during the exams I sat in year 11, but then when i went into year 12 I had that experience and felt so much more prepared than everyone else because I knew what to expect. If your school holds practise exams mid year or even towards the end of the year, next year when you do them pretend that they are the real thing and it will definitely help.

What I wish I had done was apply for special consideration or derived exam scores. I've now applied at uni and it just takes so much pressure off of you.

In terms of how to calm yourself in the exam.. take a few deep breaths, close your eyes and just try and clear your head for a couple of minutes and not think of anything. If the exam is 2/3hrs I usually take a couple of minutes break after every hour and it helps me to refocus.

Good luck with your results, and next year. You probably didn't go as badly as you feel like you did.