Anxiety can be problematic when it prevents you from taking or doing your best on an exam, causes you to feel anxious all the time, or becomes extreme. Test anxiety is a combination of physical symptoms and emotional reactions that interfere with your ability to perform well on tests. Test anxiety can also be called as anticipatory anxiety, situational anxiety or evaluation anxiety.

Exam anxiety is an issue when it is intense, continues over time and hinder academic performance. Some of the causes are:

• Negative past experiences of exams: Lack of adequate preparation, or knowledge of exam-taking techniques or study methods. Unhelpful thinking such as “I'm going to lose control!”, “I can't do this”, or “I'm going to fail.”
• Inadequate preparation: Students who are unprepared for the exam face the problem or those who haven't been attentive in the class face the difficulty of preparation and during the exams, they do not remember anything and consequently feel the examination stress.

Examinophobia – The fear of exams is genuine. Some symptoms are:

• Feeling nervous, restless, tense, weak or tired.
• Having a sense of impending danger or panic.
• Having an increased heart rate, breathing rapidly, excessive sweating, trembling.
• Feeling trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry.
• Somatic signs include headaches, stomach aches, nausea, diarrhea, light-headedness, dry mouth.
• Having trouble sleeping

Exam anxiety is when a person experiences fear and physical symptoms related to taking an examination or test. It can cause a person to underachieve on an exam and lead to reduced academic performance overall. Your worries may not go away on their own, and they may get worse over time if you don’t seek help. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the best recommendation for exam fear/anxiety depending on its severity. The therapy helps to change people behaviors and thoughts that lead to unwanted feelings or behaviors. 

• It’s okay not to be perfect: We help you to understand and accept that we all make mistakes and we are not perfect.
• Learn to acknowledge: We have done our best and that’s more important than being perfect.
• Get rid of our negative thoughts: Follow healthy life style- Get good sleep with regular exercises and eat healthy.
• Understand the importance of early preparation: Don’t wait till the day before your exam as being well prepared boosts one’s confidence and reduces anxiety.