I have written other articles talking about abuse issues and how verbal abuse can be so harmful to self-confidence and self-esteem. In this article I will talk about how this impacts children and even adults with test anxiety. When we think of having test anxiety we normally think of kids. Not true many careers institute tests for promotions. Police Officers and Fireman for example have to pass a test to be able to advance in their careers. Law students must pass the BAR to be able to practice law. My point is that test anxiety needs to be addressed as children. The Institute of Heart Math and Claremont Graduate University states that students high levels of anxiety may jeopardize validity, thereby compromising testing results. What does this mean. 61% of all students report being affected by test anxiety. 26% of students reported frequent high levels of test anxiety. Twice as many females experienced high levels of test anxiety as compared to males.Students with high levels of test anxiety scored on the average, 15 points lower on standardized tests in both Mathematics and English-Language Arts than students with low test anxiety.
Why does this happen? As I have talked about in my previous articles, the mind can be your friend or your enemy. This means it responds out of programming from the input it hears. If the student hears negative be it from teachers, students, parents or even from outside stimuli. The confidence is effected. These are called blocks in the hypnosis world. Have you ever studied all night, went to take a test and totally forgot everything you know you remembered before taking the test? What happened? Blocks. The subconscious has retained the information it just will not allow you to retrieve it. Hands start to sweat, heart raises, sound familiar. Ever been there?
What do you do about that. As hypnotist we work with the subconscious. The first step is to get rid of the blocks. The next step is to give the subconscious a trigger that will be allow the subconscious to retrieve the stored information. When self-confidence is restored, relaxation is replaced. With relaxation, the subconscious will allow the stored information to come forward. Sounds easy? It really is to a trained professional. The rewards are life long.
I would like to talk a little bit about what I call the writing on your walls. This is your belief system. If we believe we cannot do something where does that come from. We are born with only 2 fears the fear of falling and the fear of a loud noise, the rest of the fears are learned. They are instilled in us by what other people have written on our walls. If your Grandma instills her belief that you must always be an over achiever, that very well by be your belief. Lets explore how that may impact you in regards to test anxiety. Let me be clear some anxiety is good. It keeps up motivated, but when it becomes emotionally stifling, that is a condition that can stay with you your entire life. Hence test anxiety occurs. In the instance of the Grandmas writing on your wall being an over achiever you may be very hard on yourself and expect perfection from your efforts. The result? Nervousness and anxiety about failing not only the test, but yourself and others you think may be disappointed in you. When I work with a Client the first thing I talk about is relaxation. This is the key. Some of the methods that work are meditation, yoga and self-hypnosis. How does self-hypnosis benefit someone with test anxiety? Simply this it not only teaches relaxation but also helps to train the mind to think differently. More positive, productive and respond to retention of what has been read and studied but also being able to retrieve what has been learned. With this method a trigger object is used. For example a pencil could be used as a trigger object that will stimulate the retrieval process during a test. Relaxation is important. With self-hypnosis someone can learn to use his or her mind to automatically relax.
With this article you will learn techniques to use to over-come test anxiety. If you suffer from test anxiety you can learn the signs the solutions to solving this problem and the possible causes of test anxiety.
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