Test Anxiety

Tomorrow I write a really important test for my employment, and although I feel I have studied well, the thought of failing tomorrow is starting to cause me some serious anxiety!

Even if I can consciously say there will be no serious ramifications if I do fail the test (write it again for another $10 until I pass it), failure causes me so much anxiety, and failing at all in whatever it is or for whatever reason is really hard for me to deal with .

Failure…

The sound of it strikes fear and panic into me

The thing to do is not to imagine failing. Imagine passing. If you can't imagine yourself passing, start by imagining somebody else passing. Think of success, not failure, because you can do it!

Try to find the mindset you had when you took that online geography quiz. You didn't have any anxiety about that did you?
This test has real life consequences obviously but... therein lies a clue to how to deal with the anxiety.

I'm afraid I don't understand how there being real life consequences provides a clue as to how to deal with the anxiety?

I used to teach GMAT prep and SAT prep and those kinds of things, and the usual advice we gave to people was to eat a high protein breakfast in the morning, get enough sleep, not study the subject matter on the day before the test (preferably, even for the following preceding week), and, if possible, exercise on the day before the test at the same time that the test would be given tomorrow. And, of course, lots of hydration both before and during the test (mental acuity falls SHARPLY with the slightest dehydration, before you register the dehydration via the feeling of thirst).

All those are good physiological ways to prepare yourself, and as a collateral benefit exercise should reduce anxiety.

I always took the necessary time to present all of that to my students because all of the above matters as much as your accumulated knowledge and skill.

Also, since the failure is non-consequential, why worry in the first place?

Do not think about failing! That leads you to a bad place. Focus on what will help you succeed: content/skills, plus Hamster's recommendations. All you can do is your best. Life goes on.

The difference is in how you viewed taking the geography quiz vs how you view taking the test tomorrow. You enjoyed the geography quiz. You looked forward to it.
Anxiety has been added to the quotient. A little anxiety is good. A lot is debilitating.
It's just a test. You will either pass or fail. All you can do is study/prepare.
Worrying about it isn't going to help you pass. Majorly stressing out is going to affect your performance in a negative way.

How did the test go? Did you learn anything in hindsight?

I just got a student job interview for later this week, so I can relate to the pre-test jitters for sure. Mine's a one-time shot at this job, but that's okay. Either it's a match or it isn't. I have to keep my wits about me, know the info, and answer questions as best I can, just like your test today I guess.

same stuff - enough sleep, hydration, and protein.

It is basically physiology, so rather than think a lot about it (intellectually), you need to apply physiological approaches.

>so rather than think a lot about it (intellectually), you need to apply physiological approaches

I'm good with the animal stuff - protein, sleep. The hard part is not saying something idiotic in an interview, blurting out stupid stuff to another human being. Humans unnerve me. I'm good at tests. It's people that throw me. In this case, I also do have to quickly review stuff I learned over a year ago that might be relevant to this technically-oriented job. Short notice. I was very nervous for the first couple hours after finding out, and then I took some action and got over it.

The last job interview had lots of questions of stuff I hadn't thought about, and the worst was, "How would you contribute to one of the things on our mission statement." I thought their mission statement was ridiculous, and I chose not to go there. I stood my ground instead of selling out to some BS. Usually I just try to get the job. That time I kept my boundaries. As I said, when people and desperation are around, it's tough.