What should I do if I have a bad exam mentality?

This phenomenon can actually be said in many ways.

There are also many ways to deal with it. I hope you can take some time to read my sharing patiently (I hope it helps)

I don't know if you have experienced this situation:

The more you care and the harder you work, the less you can achieve the results you want;

On the contrary, what you do with a relaxed attitude will achieve surprising results.

Take my cousin's driving test as an example:

He passed the subject twice and three times.

The first time he was so nervous that he forgot to fasten his seat belt;

The second time, there was something wrong with S-bend, or a mistake he had never made in practice, which made him afraid to take the exam again.

In fact, he usually practices driving very well, just like the coach said. He is the best in their problems.

Unexpectedly, he always fails.

He also consulted me for this.

After talking to him, I found that what really hindered him was not his skill or ability, but his mentality:

He cares too much about the driving test. He wants to do well in it, but the more he wants to do well, the worse he gets.

From a psychological point of view, this is actually "needle-piercing psychology".

Psychologists have done such an experiment:

When wearing a small sewing needle, the more you concentrate and work hard, the hand will shake uncontrollably and the thread will not easily pass through the small needle eye.

This phenomenon is called purposeful trembling, also called needle-piercing psychology.

Students with exam anxiety should have a deep feeling about this:

Usually I get good grades, but when it comes to exams, I can't.

Then why is this happening?

Lemmon believes that people who are psychologically influenced by needle piercing will generally experience the following two psychological processes:

1 Too much care leads to too much stress:

For many people, the exam is not only an exam, but also gives it many other meanings. They often use negative assumptions as a contrast.

For example, self-esteem-"If I don't do well in the exam, will others laugh at me";

For example, the sense of value-"I can't do this well, what else can I do?"

Therefore, they will never allow themselves to fail.

But in fact, nothing can be so absolute, and this mentality of winning and losing will undoubtedly bring great pressure to them.

2 Excessive stress affects behavior:

Everyone has heard that "there is pressure to be motivated", which is indeed reasonable, but it is moderate pressure.

In fact, the relationship between stress and performance is not directly proportional, but inverted U-shaped, that is:

Your performance is the best only when the pressure is within your best tolerance. Too much pressure will become your resistance.

You will fall into extreme tension or panic, and then there will be a series of physiological reactions, such as rapid heartbeat, numbness of hands and feet, dizziness and tinnitus.

At this time, if you take exams or do other important things, you will only feel that your brain is blank, you can't remember anything, and you don't know what to do.

If you want to get rid of the psychological influence of needle piercing, the key is to keep a normal mind and not care too much.

I still remember when I was in high school, the school had exams every week. The purpose was:

Let's be numb to the "exam" and then treat the college entrance examination as a normal exam.

This is one method, but it may not be applicable in all cases.

So go back to the source, put aside the other meanings you give to the exam and treat it as an ordinary thing.

You can also give yourself some positive psychological hints:

I usually do well, as long as I do as usual.

Don't think about what will happen if you can't do it, it will only increase the pressure.

In fact, we can't guarantee that everything will be 100% successful. In that case, why not prepare for failure?

Tell yourself that failure is nothing. If you can accept it, it won't affect you. Putting down the pressure and burden will naturally make you more comfortable.

(A dividing line ...)

If the needle-piercing mentality mentioned above doesn't help you, let me share something about exam anxiety.

How can we get rid of exam anxiety? First of all, let's look at the performance of exam anxiety. People who are anxious about exams will have some behavioral reactions before exams, such as eating badly, falling asleep, losing concentration and always worrying about anxiety.

This kind of fidgeting will be more obvious during the exam, and you will be flustered and sick, numb hands and feet, and your brain will be blank. If these reactions can't be adjusted in time, you will encounter waterloo in the exam when you usually perform well.

Then why do you have exam anxiety? Lemmon concluded that there are two main sources of test anxiety:

First of all, what do you think of this exam?

If you take this exam too seriously and even equate it with the success or failure of your life, it is not surprising that you are anxious about it.

Some people may have experienced similar failures before, so there will be a kind of ambivalence in the subsequent exams.

On the one hand, I am afraid of the exam, and I feel that I will not do well in the exam as before. On the other hand, I am eager to do well in the exam and want to prove myself through this exam.

But the more so, the greater the pressure this exam will bring you, and then you can't give full play to yourself.

The second source of exam anxiety is how you look at yourself.

Some people attach great importance to others' evaluation of themselves, and always feel that they have not done well in the exam, and others will laugh at themselves.

In the final analysis, this mentality is because you are not confident enough. Your self-evaluation is largely based on what others say about you. In your heart, you will firmly think that I am a useless person, because I failed the exam = my ability is low.

And these thoughts often only lead you into a vicious circle.

So how do we get rid of exam anxiety? Lemon gives you three suggestions: First, don't treat your anxiety as a demon.

Many people will fall into a misunderstanding: after feeling anxious, the first reaction is to contain it. But you will find that you can't contain it, and then you will feel frustrated and powerless, which will eventually lead to more anxiety.

You know, anxiety is not necessarily a bad thing, and proper anxiety can help you play better.

So try to accept anxiety and say to yourself, "When you are nervous, you are nervous. Everyone is like this. Not just me, so it's no big deal. " Use such hints to help you adjust your mind.

The second is to learn to change cognition.

Don't think you will fail in the exam before it. You can give yourself some positive hints and think about what will happen after you do well in the exam. This will help you mobilize the positive energy inside.

In addition, remember not to exaggerate the impact of failing in the exam on life, and try to change your mind: "The exam is not that serious, I still have a chance, as long as I work hard."

Finally, you can try to breathe and relax.

Lemon: Simply put, you inhale slowly, feel your abdomen bulge slowly, then hold your breath and exhale slowly through your nose. You can count 1-2-3-4 in your mind to find the rhythm in each process.

During the whole process, you should pay attention to the movement and rhythm of breathing, so that you can get rid of other thoughts and relax quickly.

(Split line releases new content ...)

After writing the exam anxiety, I thought of another effect, which is similar to the situation described by the subject. I am also here to share with you, and I have another idea.

After engaging in the psychological industry, I always inadvertently know that some events that happened in the past were originally said by psychology.

A classmate in high school will get into the first 100 in every exam. On the basis of 1500 students at that time, it can be said to be very excellent.

However, she has gone through the college entrance examination twice. The first time she got sick and had a fever for no reason. She insisted on finishing the exam and got three points. The second college entrance examination, I didn't have a fever, and there was no interference from any other external conditions. I cried all the time after the first exam, and my final grade was a junior college.

I'm not trying to compare the quality of the university here, but I'm aiming at the phenomenon that she usually gets excellent grades, but she can't do it when she gets stuck in the big exam. In fact, it accounts for a large proportion of our population.

Today, Lemon will talk to you about a corresponding psychological effect: Jensen effect.

There is an athlete named Zhan Sen, who is well-trained and fierce at ordinary times, but always loses in the competition, so people take this opportunity to describe the phenomenon that he usually performs well but loses because of his lack of psychological quality in the competition? It's called the Jensen effect.

In our real life, the level of psychological quality can be said to be the basis of a person's achievements.

Erich Fromm, a famous American psychologist, led his students to do such an experiment:

He took the students to a dark room. Under his guidance, the students quickly passed through the room. Then Fromm turned on a light in the room. Under the dim light, the students saw a deep pool in the middle of the room, and all kinds of poisonous snakes kept swimming in the pool.

They just passed a very narrow wooden bridge above the pool.

Fromm asked them, "Would you like to cross this bridge again?" ?

No one dares to answer.

After waiting for a long time, only a few students said they wanted to try, but the speed was slow and the activity space was narrow. Just then, Fromm snapped off all the lights in the room, and there was a safety net between the bridge and the poisonous snake. Just because of the color and lighting, the students didn't see it.

"Who else wants to cross the bridge?"

There is still no answer this time.

"Can the quality of the net be guaranteed?" "Are we really not in danger?" And so on. Students keep asking questions.

Fromm replied:

The bridge itself is not difficult to walk. When you didn't see these poisonous snakes, you strode past without doubt, but after seeing them, you wouldn't want to have a safety net.

That's the mentality. If you are confused, no matter how simple things are and how thoroughly the difficulties are analyzed, your road is not easy, or you are unwilling to go well.

In our real life, exams or very difficult and critical events are like poisonous snakes here. After people think about the things behind many exams or difficulties, your stress and anxiety will increase sharply and become a burden for your progress.

How many of us are mentally retarded? It's not that we don't work hard. Just because of fear, our mentality is destroyed and the cornerstone is destroyed. How can we go down in a down-to-earth manner?

Now, if you lose the chain again at this critical moment, will you still be immersed in self-blame?

In this world, there are many people with the same difficulties as you. You are not alone.