NCEA exams are on the horizon. This can be a stressful time.
The pressure to perform during exams generates huge amounts of stress and anxiety that inhibits peak performance and creates a nerve-wracking home and school environment.
I remember when I was sitting the equivalent of the NCEA’s in the UK. I had sat seven papers and had one more exam to go – a law paper. My friends and I had been testing ourselves on the names and details of law cases for weeks. I knew the information inside out and backwards. I was confident I was going to sail through the exam and end the year on a high.
But ….
I turned over the paper, read the first question and my mind went blank! It was as if someone had taken a whiteboard eraser and wiped all the law I’d learned from my mind. The harder I tried to recall the information, the further away it seemed to move. For the next 90 minutes I experienced a roller-coaster of emotions – panic, frustration, anger, despondency, fear.
I failed that paper badly. It was the only exam I failed. Prior to the exam I had visions of becoming a lawyer – after that exam I dropped that idea and chose a different career path.
For years afterwards whenever I thought about that law exam I asked “What the hell happened on that day? Why, despite knowing my stuff, and feeling super confident, did I have such a melt down?”
I know the answer now – out of nowhere exam anxiety had hijacked by mind.
The nature of examinations is that they can cause worry and anxiety. Many confident and capable students can freeze on the day as their nerves get the better of them, and just as I experienced, their thinking brain gets hijacked by their emotional brain.
Exam anxiety can easily ruin a year’s work and hopes for the future.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s possible to learn some simple tools and techniques to:
- build self-belief and confidence
- develop the mind set required for exam success
- cope with the symptoms of exam anxiety
and so increase the likelihood of success.
What I needed when I was sitting my exams, was the exam/test anxiety busting tools and techniques I've now developed to help students/adults. Had I been equipped with these tools and techniques when I was at school, I would have performed at my best and sailed through that law exam with ease and enjoyed success.
“Success is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. Of course you can wait and hope it arrives, or you can take inspired action and make sure that it does.”
~ Craig Santini-Gibson
Today as a performance & mind-set coach, I help people in all walks of life to develop the skills they need to perform at their best under pressure in any situation.
If you’d like to explore how I can help your daughter/son to boost their overall exam confidence, so they enter the NCEA exam room feeling calm, focused and confident in themselves, and able to perform at their best under the pressure, then contact me today (see below).
Don’t let exam nerves, anxiety or stress ruin your daughter's/son's chances of exam success.
What Next?
If you’d like to find out more, or if you’d like to start the ball rolling contact me on 021 056 8389 or email me at tony@tycoaching.nz.
Until next week,
Go well
Tony
Tony helps individuals to harness the power of their mind to achieve success and well-being in life, work and business. In particular he helps people to perform at their best under pressure, reduce distress and avoid problematic anxiety. His solution focused approach to coaching uses a range of techniques drawn from the fields of co-active coaching, clinical hypnotherapy, positive psychology and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).
Contact Tony today to discuss how he can help you, or if you think Tony could help someone you know, you might like to encourage them to get in touch with him.
