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Test Anxiety and
Multiple Choice Tests
What is test anxiety?

Most students have experienced a degree of test anxiety at one time or another. In fact, to some extent test anxiety can improve test-taking performance. It also shows that the individual takes the test seriously and cares about the results. But, when anxiety is frequent and severe, it can negatively affect test scores, and create feelings of frustration, failure and low self-esteem.

Test anxiety is an unpleasant emotional state that is characterised by feelings of tension, apprehension and worry, and sometimes by physical symptoms associated with these feelings. Some of the symptoms include:

physical symptoms, such as headaches, nausea, faintness, feeling too hot or too cold, etc.;
emotional symptoms, including wanting to cry or laugh too much, or feeling frightened, angry or helpless; and,
cognitive problems, such as blanking out, having racing thoughts that don’t relate to the test material, or uncontrollable thoughts about failure, and distractibility.

What can you do to control test anxiety?
Most people can learn to cope with test anxiety by following these suggestions.

Before the Exam

Be well prepared for the test. Study throughout the term, rather than cramming your study time in to a few short days.
Include as much self-testing in your studying as possible. Take practice tests if you can.
Maintain a healthy lifestyle: get enough sleep, good nutrition, exercise, some personal free time, and a reasonable amount of time for socialising.
Give yourself positive messages like, "I can do OK on this exam." or "I have studied and I do know my stuff."
Control negative thoughts. Don’t compare yourself to your peers or think about what your parents, partner, children, or others may say about your performance on this exam.

Collect all the materials that you will need for the exam on the night before: pen, pencil, ruler, eraser, calculator, etc. Doublecheck the time of the exam and the location.
Set the alarm clock and then get a good night's sleep before the exam. Taking the Test
Get to the exam in plenty of time. Don't talk to friends about the contents of the exam before going in to take the test.
If possible sit somewhere in the exam room where there is little or nothing to distract you.
Before you begin writing the test, close your eyes and taking some slow deep breaths to help calm you.
Read any instructions on the top page carefully before beginning to write.
As you work, focus only on the exam, not on what other students are doing.
If you feel anxious during the test, take a few minutes to calm yourself down. Stretch your arms and legs and then relax them again. Take some slow deep breaths. Give yourself positive messages: "I will be OK, I can do this." When you feel more relaxed, get back to the exam.
If the exam is more difficult than you expected, keep your focus and do the best you can. Partial marks are better than none at all.

After the Exam

Reward yourself. Take in a movie with a friend if you have time. If you have other exams to study for, postpone a larger treat, and take a little time to have coffee with a friend, go for a walk, or watch your favourite television show.
Try not to worry about your performance on the test.

If after following these suggestions you still experience test anxiety, talk to a counsellor and share your concerns.