The countdown continues for candidates preparing for high school and university exams. Experts point out the importance of adjusting the dose of anxiety and say that anxiety is necessary to achieve success. "While being carefree can lead to laziness, excessive anxiety can affect concentration," they warn. Experts point out that parents' high expectations also increase anxiety.
Üsküdar University NP Feneryolu Medical Center Clinical Psychologist Esma Uygun noted that the anxiety levels of candidates preparing for the upcoming LGS and YKS exams have increased.
Normal levels of anxiety are healthy
Defining anxiety that occurs during exam times as "a psychological condition that leads to excessive distress and anxiety", Uygun said: "Most people experience anxiety and fear before exams. In fact, a normal level of anxiety protects the person and is a healthy emotion. It keeps people psychologically and physiologically alert and helps them to do better work. However, excessive levels of anxiety and fear can negatively affect a person's daily life, leading to a decrease and deterioration in performance. In order to manage anxiety, the candidate should find a suitable motivation for himself/herself, direct it in a positive direction without turning it into fear, turn to his/her favorite activities in his/her free time and take up a hobby."
Exam anxiety causes many symptoms
Stating that exam anxiety causes various levels of physical, cognitive, behavioral and emotional symptoms in candidates, Uygun continued his words as follows:
"Physically, it causes problems such as heart palpitations, differences in breathing, independent sweating or chills, difficulty in focusing, headache, difficulty falling asleep, feeling extremely tired, changes in eating patterns, tremors, dry mouth and nausea. Cognitively and behaviorally, the person may exhibit avoidance behavior from the situation that causes anxiety and fear. Such people often criticize themselves and damage their intrinsic motivation towards the goal. Negatively, self-criticism affects the body, affect and thoughts going through the mind and leads to thought errors. For example, negative thought errors such as 'I will lose control and fail the exam' or 'this exam is very difficult and I will definitely not be able to do it' cause a person with test anxiety to become more anxious and lose control over the situation. These negative thought patterns lead to a feeling of helplessness and affect motivation and concentration. In addition, people with test anxiety may also exhibit emotional symptoms such as resentment, anger and helplessness towards themselves when they cannot perform as they wish."
Parents should make them feel that they are looking for a solution
Stating that there are parents who experience very high levels of anxiety during this period, Uygun said, "These anxieties and expectations in their parents, as well as the expectations of the people around them about the exam, increase the level of anxiety in children. If they have children with test anxiety, they need to talk to them. A useful conclusion can be reached if it is learned what the thoughts that make them anxious, what they are worried about, what kind of difficulties they experience. However, if it is seen that the child cannot manage exam anxiety despite all efforts, if it is observed that he/she is pessimistic, unhappy and constantly excited, if he/she loses sleep, if it is observed that his/her study performance decreases, and if there are difficulties in analyzing, counseling from a specialist should be sought."
It is possible to get rid of excessive anxiety with psychotherapy
Clinical Psychologist Esma Uygun said that they apply psychotherapy sessions for candidates to get rid of excessive exam anxiety that causes negative results: "Before the 6-session psychotherapy, the Moxo Test is administered once in the first stage. Our aim with this test is to measure the attention of children and young people. Mild anxiety will bring success, but high levels of anxiety will bring failure. At the end of the sessions, the change in the level of anxiety is determined with the tests to be applied by our experts."
