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Test anxiety is a widespread issue for college students around the world, according to the International Online Medical Council.
At Northwestern, the fast-paced nature of the quarter system only complicates things for many students, who see quizzes, midterms and finals pile up throughout 10-week terms.
McCormick sophomore Abem Girmai said he once slept only two hours and was almost late to his exam the next day.
“It’s really stressful sometimes,” Girmai said. “I get really anxious leading up to the few hours before a test, especially during finals,”
Girmai said that his test anxiety used to significantly disrupt his sleeping and eating patterns before and during his exam periods freshman year. Rather than eating and sleeping on a regular schedule, he would sleep in short bursts whenever possible and sometimes ate meals past 1 a.m. while studying.
Now, as a sophomore, he said he is much better at handling tests by destressing through playing video games and listening to music.
“The people that come to Northwestern are really studious and want to be at the top,” Girmai said. “I struggle with that too, but exams, in college or not, you don’t have to be perfect. Learning that you don’t have to be perfect is a really big thing.”
For Weinberg sophomore Angelina Vaclavik, test anxiety stems from a desire to perform well. On days leading up to an exam, she said she gets significantly less sleep trying to study as much as possible.
Vaclavik said her anxiety involves repeatedly focusing on the same material and mentally reviewing everything to feel prepared. She said college exam anxiety differs from what she experienced in high school, because expectations were clearer back then.
High school exams were more predictable, Vaclavik said, whereas, exams are more unpredictable and less structured in her NU classes.
“It’s much more of a guessing game,” she said. “I think the thing that drives the most anxiety is with curves, because you think that you know the material, and then there might be someone who knows the material much better than you.”
Some NU courses described as points-based still rely heavily on grading curves, Vaclavik said, and there should be less emphasis on grading curves because they can create stress, particularly in more challenging subjects like organic chemistry.
Grading curves adjust students’ scores based on overall class performance instead of a fixed scale, such as a set A-range. Instead, grades are distributed relative to how others perform, with instructors often setting cutoffs after an exam to reflect class results.
Psychology Prof. Almaz Mesghina said that from a social comparison perspective, the design of grading curves adds a layer of anxiety. Having researched educational psychology, she said curves create pressure to outperform peers, not just measure individual performance, despite their intended benefits.
She said that while exams make up large portions of students’ grades and aren’t fully determinative of life outcomes or career paths, they serve as “gatekeeping mechanisms,” which make anxiety over high-stakes tests completely rational.
Mesghina advises students to maintain consistent eating habits leading up to test days.
“Find something your stomach can tolerate,” Mesghina said. “Eat the same thing every morning, so that when you go into the test taking situation at 7 p.m., eat the same dinner and get used to that so that you have the calories, so you can do it.”
Weinberg first-year Eric Arrowsmith said that as a person with autism, he doesn’t struggle as much with test anxiety in college as he did in high school, partly because he is able to use extended time testing accommodations allotted to him by AccessibleNU.
Students can register for Testing Services at ANU, which is available for “supporting students with disabilities who have ANU-approved test accommodations,” according to ANU’s website. Through the service, eligible students can receive extended time and other accommodations such as assistive technology and private testing rooms.
Most of Arrowsmith’s STEM courses generally have two midterms and a final exam. He said his performance on the first test influences his stress level for future assessments for those classes.
“If the first test was easy, I won’t be nervous the second and third time,” Arrowsmith said. “If the first test was hard, then I’ll study like crazy for the test coming after that, and I might still be a little bit nervous, but usually less so either way.”
Mesghina advised students to replicate testing conditions when preparing for exams.
“Try to add the time pressure,” Mesghina said. “Try to study or take a practice test with people in the room that you’re going to be in, so on test day, it’s just you and the content.”
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