[truthsearcher83]

Hi ,

I am 28 years old and have faced 'test anxiety' throughout my life . I'd enrolled , about 8 years back for an engineering degree in Computer Science , passed the first three years of the course but could not continue it as my anxiety with tests got better of me . I work in IT and my colleagues consider me to be an excellent programmer but my career growth has been severely dwarfed because of the lack of the degree . So , I started with the tests again ( which is in another 25 days ) and bam its deja vu . I myself do not feel anxious its only that I do not get any sleep whatsoever the moment I come to realize I have to write a test . I had previously gone 3- 4 months with daily sleep of like 2 hours and this starts the moment the schedule of the tests are announced . In the end its so tormenting I just quit and do not write the tests at all . I am supposed to complete the course by 2014 . I have been preparing for the exams and for the past two weeks had on an average 2-3 hours of sleep . This makes concentration hard and I feel very irritated and frustrated .
I'd tried sleeping pills ( which makes studying very difficult for me ) , been prescribed escitalopram which did not work at all . On my own and during my college days i tried everything in between Marijuana to exercise and from mindfulness to banging my head against the wall but nothing seems to work .
This is killing me and I feel defeated . Whats wrong with me ?

[fishsandwich]

Is it possible for you to take some kind of qualification which does not centre around exams? Coursework-based qualifications, perhaps?

I don't think there's anything wrong with you. Some people just really don't "do" exams! Myself I have a very weird history of being a great student and bombing exams, often because I enter the exam room and start throwing up/having seizures/one time my eyeball started to bulge out of my head. Eh!

Have you discerned what causes the anxiety? Is it a lack of preparation? Over-preparation? (Sometimes when you revise too much, it only makes you more aware of all the stuff you don't know.) Generally nerves about exams? Fear of past failures predicting future failures?

[truthsearcher83]

Were I am from education is heavily exam based and credit based system carries no practical 'value' . I can definitively say that my misery is due to my lack of preparation and subsequent failing in my 12th ( Senior ) final exam during the first attempt.I had'nt studied throughout the year and tried to do it within two days before exams and failed miserably . As far as I remember I'd never had this problem before this and was carefree but always doing exceptionally well in exams . Oh how I crave those days .
A significant money has been invested in the BS course and I am just one year away from getting the degree . I just do not want to run away from it . Would hypnosis work ?

Thanks a lot for replying .

[fishsandwich]

Any chance you're in the UK? I took my degree there/here and Mother of God, do those people love exams!! A whole year of classes, lectures, etc. determined/evaluated in one three-hour chunk -- and sucks to you if you are ill on the day or whatever!

I don't know if hypnosis will work because I'm not you. Those things are highly personal, you'd have to try it and see. I'm the Queen of cramming, but I don't recommend it. If lack of preparation is your problem, then obviously preparing is your solution though. I don't think hypnosis helps with that. You just have to find a way to make yourself revise. (And when you find out, let me know!)

I read a book once, 'The Procrastination Equation', can't remember the author but I think his forename was Piers. Lots of good tips in there.

[truthsearcher83]

I am from India and the system of education has been inherited from the UK . Its the same here , your fate gets decided during the three hours and you are not even supposed to go out and take a leak . Its like a noose dangling as you try to remember things and vomit them on to the paper .
Its not lack of preparation but ( I assume ) one exam where I went unprepared 9 years ago , flunked and the subsequent phobia that I associate with exams .Whats weird is I do not feel anxious but cant get any sleep and feel very depressed . Give me the question paper , tell me its not an exam and I am sure I can do pretty well .
I think its pretty unjust , whatever is happening with me and my brain . But that is how life is I guess . I wish that nobody has to go through a situation like this.
I appreciate you help .