So, I have a touch of test anxiety. I’ve seen a counselor about this but it hasn’t helped much. Sometimes it gets so bad I panic, and it gets very difficult to focus if the panic continues. I was talking to a classsmate who said she sometimes has a drink before stressful exams to relax. I have a 45 minute or so break tomorrow before a very stressful exam…should I? I don’t want to need to pee halfway though this 2 hour exam, but I really need to relax. I’m not talking about having anything more than one drink, I don’t want to get smashed or anything. I am definitely of age.
Has anyone here done this, and did it help?And what can I drink that won’t make me pee? I’m not a big drinker and if I do imbibe I usually drink beer, but that makes me pee.
I am both a habitual drinker and a person who has had test anxiety. I suggest against having booze before an exam. It will jack with your blood sugar and having lowered inhibitions isn’t necessarily a good thing when you are trying to write out an essay or solve a set of matrices. Not to mention that drinking to cope with anxiety is seriously maladaptive. I think you should maybe try a different counselor or even a MD for future exams, although it is clearly too late for this one.
I cut off all drinking a week before exams, and I am a person that drinks at least one beer a day (I cut out caffeine as well). Having either alcohol or caffeine rattling around is just going to tire out the old neurons and cause a sugar crash with a corresponding psychological meltdown. My strategy for coping with exams is to meditate before hand. Seriously, nothing has helped more. I acknowledge my fears and worries and let them pass. I put the book down on exam day and have quiet time 20-30 minutes before the exam. Then I walk in there and do my best.
Take that 45 minute break and get a good breakfast and meditate or take a relaxing walk. These two things will be far more beneficial to you than tying one on. You will do great. Save the drinking for after the exam!
You need some other tool to deal with this test anxiety. Alcohol might work–sounds strange to me, but I know it’s relaxing. But if you become the sort of person who needs a drink in order to function a certain way, then that’s bad.
And once you get out of school, situations are going to arise that create the same kind of anxiety. Life’s a test! So figure out another way to deal with it. Don’t colleges have on-campus counseling?
This is excellent advice, and I tend to do it myself before an exam. I’d also recommend trying to avoid the crowds of “panic stricken” students waiting around outside the exam room. You don’t want to let them or their worries (or their boasts) bring you down.
FTR, I have been known to enjoy a cocktail the night before an exam–but if I do, it’s just one and it’s the night before. It’s not multiple cocktails, nor do I consume any alcohol the next day just before the exam. Queen Bruin says to save it for after the exam, and I heartily agree. In fact, I do it myself!
I’ve tried the school counseling, and I’ve even seen more than one counselor - it didn’t help me at all.
I so rarely drink that I thought it might help take the edge off. My classmate told me it was very helpful for her and helped her focus (again, one small drink before the test).
I never celebrate being done with exams by drinking; that’s just not something I do. Plus, I have 3 mid-terms this week. No heavy drinking here!
If you rarely drink, can you be sure that even a small drink won’t muck up your thinking more than you think it will? Consider - do you really notice that you can’t write a decent essay after one shot, when you’re at a house party? Probably not.
I sympathize - test anxiety sucks. The only thing I can suggest is to study, and study, and do a practice test if your prof provides any sort of review questions.
I’m trying to imagine what would happen in my nursing program is someone showed up for an exam with even the tiniest whiff of alcohol on his breath. :eek: :eek: I’m guessing there would be much alarm on the part of the faculty and perhaps a mandantory psych eval to determine if the student has a drinking problem. On the other hand, half the students in my class seem to be on anti-depressants or antianxiety meds and nobody seems to notice.
If you’re just talking normal test anxiety, then no, don’t drink. It won’t help. I’ve only known one person to do it, and he had a couple of beers before he went in to take an exam which would not have had him passing the class even if he got 115% on it.
If you actually know the material backwards and forwards and find yourself having a completely irrational, uncalled-for panic attack half an hour before your test – I have, in the past, when I was stuck with no health insurance whatsoever and the university counselors had a 3-week wait for a non-emergency (read: neither psychotic nor suicidal) appointment, used a very small dose of diphenhydramine. A half to a quarter of what they tell you to take on the box. It got me to quit dry-heaving and relax long enough to stop shaking and take the damn test. This is a terrible idea and absolutely not what the stuff is for, and Qadgop will probably swing by and bonk me on the head for even thinking of it, but I did do decently on the exam, and I didn’t puke on the desk, which was all I could really have asked for on that particular day.
Not to be construed as medical advice, I am not a doctor, do not taunt Happy Fun Ball, void where prohibited (except in Indiana), etc.
One of my best college teachers recommending against cramming the night before an exam. He suggesting studying for several days prior to the exam, but then the night before just relaxing and having a beer. I don’t know if this would help with the OP’s situation (and it’s obviously too late to try it), but it made sense to me. I never tried it because I procrastinated too much and didn’t do the studying soon enough.
It’s over - I didn’t drink. I do start studying several days beforehand (in the case of this exam, I started last Friday night and did a lot of studying over the weekend). I just get so wound up that is is very hard to focus sometimes.