Test Anxiety Strategies for Before and During an Exam
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Test Anxiety Strategies for Before and During an Exam

Test Anxiety: How to Manage It Before and During an Exam

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Key takeaways

  • Test anxiety can affect thoughts, emotions, and physical responses, and it varies from person to person.
  • Short, focused study sessions and realistic practice can make an exam feel less unfamiliar.
  • A brief routine during an exam can help redirect attention to the question in front of you.
  • Study strategies and calming techniques are tools to try, not guarantees of lower anxiety or higher marks.
  • Consider reaching out for support if anxiety is persistent or disrupts school or daily life.

Table of contents

What test anxiety can feel like

Test anxiety is distress that arises when you’re being evaluated and fear you’ll perform poorly or face serious consequences. It can show up as worried thoughts, strong emotions, physical tension, or a mix of all three. A practical starting point is to prepare with short, focused study sessions and realistic practice, then use a simple calming routine during the exam. If anxiety repeatedly disrupts school or daily life, a counselor or mental-health professional can help you explore more structured support.

Feeling nervous before an important test doesn’t automatically mean something is wrong. The goal isn’t necessarily to eliminate every anxious feeling. It’s to keep anxiety from taking over your attention, preparation, or ability to attempt the questions in front of you.

Test anxiety is connected to being evaluated, but people experience it differently. One student might spend days worrying about failing; another might feel physically tense as the test begins; someone else might struggle to concentrate even when they know the material. These experiences can involve thoughts, emotions, and physical responses, and don’t fall into a simple anxious-or-not-anxious divide. Research on how test anxiety is understood and measured also finds variation in how students’ anxiety is identified.

Possible signs include:

  • Worrying repeatedly about the result or what others will think
  • Finding it hard to focus on a question or recall information
  • Feeling tense, restless, or physically keyed up
  • Putting off studying or avoiding conversations about the exam
  • Feeling distressed before, during, or after an assessment

These examples aren’t a diagnostic checklist. One difficult test, one symptom, or a score on a questionnaire can’t tell you by itself whether you have a mental-health condition. What matters practically is the pattern: how often the distress occurs, how intense it feels, and whether it interferes with studying, taking exams, attending school, or daily life.

Why preparation helps—and what it can’t do

Uncertainty can make an exam feel harder to approach. A study plan gives you a specific next step, while practice questions can make the format and pace less unfamiliar. Reviews of test-anxiety interventions for medical students describe approaches such as practice questions, study and test-taking strategies, and exposure to upcoming content. These are reasonable tools to try, but they aren’t guarantees of lower anxiety or higher marks. The review found that none of the included studies reported improved examination scores, despite assessing different interventions.

Make the next study session concrete

Instead of writing “study biology,” choose a task you can finish, such as answering a set of practice questions on one topic or reviewing a specific section of your notes. If the task feels too large, split it again. The point isn’t to follow a perfect schedule; it’s to reduce the time spent deciding where to begin.

When possible, practise in a way that resembles the assessment. For example, if your exam includes timed short answers, try answering a few similar questions with a time limit. Afterward, check what you knew, what you missed, and whether the difficulty was content, timing, or understanding the question. That gives your next study session a clearer focus than simply rereading everything.

If the exam is soon and you’re behind, prioritize the material most relevant to the assessment rather than trying to make a last-minute plan for every topic. A breathing exercise may help you settle, but it can’t replace preparation or make unfamiliar material familiar.

How to calm test anxiety during an exam

When anxiety rises, it can be difficult to focus on the question rather than on what the anxiety seems to mean. Try a short routine that redirects attention to the immediate task:

  1. Pause briefly. Put both feet on the floor or settle into a comfortable position.
  2. Slow your breathing gently. Take a few deliberate breaths, letting the exhale be unhurried. Don’t force a deep breath or try to hit a particular count.
  3. Read the question again. Identify what it is asking you to do: explain, compare, calculate, or choose.
  4. Start with one manageable step. Write down a relevant fact, outline an answer, or move to a question you can attempt.

Deep breathing and other wellness techniques have been used in studies of medical students, but the available review does not establish that they improve exam scores. The intervention review is a reminder to treat these methods as tools to try, not as proven fixes.

Practise the routine during ordinary study sessions or lower-pressure quizzes, rather than testing an unfamiliar method for the first time in a high-stakes exam. If focusing on your breath makes you more uncomfortable, skip that part and use another anchor, such as reading the question slowly or naming the first step you can take.

A common trap is treating one difficult moment as proof that the whole exam is going badly. If you blank on a question, give yourself permission to move on and return to it later if time allows. That doesn’t ensure a particular result, but it can help you avoid spending the rest of the test stuck on one item.

Longer-term support and strategies

If preparation and a brief routine aren’t enough, more structured support may be worth considering. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and other behavioral approaches are among the interventions studied for test anxiety in children and adolescents. An earlier review found some promising approaches but a small evidence base, while a later review identified 11 eligible school-based intervention studies from 2011 to 2018. The programs varied, so the findings don’t establish one method that works for every student. (Earlier review; school-based review)

You could start by telling a school counselor, student-support adviser, or trusted teacher what happens before or during tests. Be specific: “I understand the material when I study, but I panic and can’t focus once the timer starts” gives them more to work with than “I’m bad at tests.” They may be able to discuss support options or point you toward a qualified mental-health professional. The right next step depends on the person, the setting, and how much the anxiety is interfering.

Exercise may be a helpful addition for some people, but it shouldn’t be presented as a cure. A 2022 meta-analysis reported lower test-anxiety scores in exercise-intervention studies, but the results varied greatly across studies (I2=92%), making it difficult to treat the pooled finding as a single reliable prescription. A 2025 review also noted that clinical studies specifically examining physical activity and test anxiety remain scarce. (2022 meta-analysis; 2025 review)

Other approaches, including digital mental-health programs and hypnosis, are also being studied. Results aren’t uniform: for example, a review of university digital programs found that only three of eight studies showed statistically significant anxiety improvements compared with control groups. A hypnosis review described encouraging results but called for more rigorous research and longer follow-up. (Digital programs review; hypnosis review) These findings support cautious interest, not a promise that an app or specialized method will work for you.

When to ask for help

Consider reaching out to a qualified mental-health professional, school counselor, or student-support service if test anxiety is persistent, causes major distress, leads you to avoid school or exams, or disrupts daily life. You don’t have to wait until you’re unable to take a test to ask for support. A professional can help you understand what’s contributing to the anxiety and discuss suitable options without relying on a one-size-fits-all solution.

For your next exam, choose one small action you can take today: schedule a focused study session, answer a few practice questions, or rehearse a short calming routine. Then notice what helps you stay engaged with the work—not just what promises to make all anxiety disappear.

FAQ

What is test anxiety?

Test anxiety is distress that arises when you’re being evaluated and fear you’ll perform poorly or face serious consequences. It can involve worried thoughts, strong emotions, physical tension, or a mix of all three.

What can I do during an exam if anxiety rises?

Pause briefly, slow your breathing gently if that feels comfortable, reread the question, and start with one manageable step. You can also move on from a difficult question and return to it later if time allows.

When should I ask for help with test anxiety?

Consider reaching out to a qualified mental-health professional, school counselor, or student-support service if test anxiety is persistent, causes major distress, leads you to avoid school or exams, or disrupts daily life.