This morning I had the opportunity to talk to the 2019 matrics about “Calming Exam Anxiety” ahead of their mock matric exams starting next week. The powerpoint is attached.
The message can be summed up in a few sentences: Anxiety is normal. Accept it, acknowledge what you are anxious about and find ways to control your anxiety in exam situations so that you can show what you know. The idea is to calm down your emotional brain so that you can engage in “cold cognition” and access the material you have learned. Anxiety can actually boost your performance if you work with it rather than trying to suppress it.
