Overcoming Test Anxiety

Test anxiety is like a insidious weed that grows like kudzu in the fertile ground of nursing school. Like a contagious disease it spreads rapidly from one student to another. One student voices their concerns about how they will do on their upcoming test; another says she heard from a senior that this is the hardest test of junior year; yet another says she spent 20 hours studying for this test but still doesn't feel ready, and the rest who hadn't studied even half as long suddenly are gripped with the fear of failure because they do not measure up to their friend's rather excessive preparation. I've seen it all before and have been apart of similar conversations and felt the real effects that test anxiety can have.

Some of us Anne of Green Gables fans can sympathize with her sentiments shared in a letter to Diana in which she expressed her anxiety over an upcoming exam. She confided, "Oh Diana, if only the geometry examination were over! But then, as Mrs. Lynde would say, the sun will go on rising and setting whether I fail in geometry or not. That is true but not especially comforting. I think I'd rather is didn't go on if I failed!" We've all been there--believing our entire fate rested on a single test. But I'd like to share how I came to realize that my fate does not rest on a "what" but a "Who".

When I was in high school, my youth pastor used to get down on his knees before the classroom, lift up his hands to God and pray a prayer that has impacted my approach to tests and my whole approach to life. He prayed something along the lines of, "God, I humble myself before You, and admit I cannot do anything apart from You. Give me the grace I need to preach this message." By his example, I started praying my own prayer before every exam, "Lord, I humble myself before You and admit I cannot do anything apart from You. Please give me Your grace and supernatural ability to do well on this test for Your glory not mine." By that prayer, I surrender the outcome into God's hands. When I try to do anything in my own strength, whether I pass or fail, the credit belongs to me. Therefore, the best way to overcome test anxiety is not only preparing well by spending sufficient time studying but to surrender the outcome to God and ask Him for His help. James 4:10 promises this: "Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you" (ESV). We have a God in Heaven Whose pleasure it is to shower blessings upon us (Lk. 11:13, Rom. 8:32, Js. 1:17). We don't have to live weighed down by cares and concerns (Matt. 11:29-30). In 1 Peter, we are commanded to "Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you" (5:7, NIV).

A special thanks to the junior nursing student who asked me to write this post. I hope you will be as encouraged by it as I was in writing it.