Performance and Exam Nerves

Do exams or public performances stress you out?

 

Most students, young or old, experience stress before an exam. Exam anxiety is a form of performance anxiety. The same kind of stress could appear before or during a performance, such as business presentations, public speaking events, sports competitions, musical performances, acting, and many more. This could happen to anyone, including the most experienced performers. 

 

A certain level of stress is healthy because it helps a person perform better. However, when it interferes with one’s performance or incapacitates them to the point where they’d rather quit before even getting started, it could become a disorder. Some of its symptoms include:

 

• Difficulty breathing

• Difficulty concentrating

• Sweating

• Increased heartbeat

• Headache 

• Nausea

• Slight fever

• Diarrhoea or vomiting

 

Symptoms range from mild to severe and could turn into anxiety/panic attacks, become habitual and ultimately affect one’s mental and emotional wellbeing.

 

Some of the causes of exam and performance anxiety include:

 

• Fear of failure. This has a variety of underlying reasons, and therefore, it could manifest differently from person to person. One can have a personal drive to make it to the top, or some sense of high expectations, so to speak. Others may feel the need to prove themselves to others, such as parents, siblings, friends, partner - the list goes on. Those motivations are not detrimental in good amounts. In excess, however, the fear could consequently become a hindrance to performing well.

 

• Previous failing. A student who had previously done poorly on an exam could become anxious every time he/she takes another exam. Similarly, someone who had previous poor performance at work, or someone who made an obvious goof of themselves during a public speaking occasion might have formed a recurring fear of presenting or speaking in public.

 

• Being unprepared. While it may sound like common sense and, most often, can be avoided altogether, being unprepared can still cause high levels of anxiety. 

 

If the nervousness resulting from these causes is not managed well and remains unresolved, the person risks losing control over their reactions and behaviour in the long run.