Like many students, the girl in the case study scenario, Katya, suffers from test anxiety.

Test anxiety is a type of anxiety that people get before or during a test. Sufferers of test anxiety
have an overwhelming fear of failing the test which can cause them to do badly on it. This makes
taking tests very difficult, even if the person knows the subject very well. In a school setting,
taking tests is obviously a huge part of a students academic life and cannot be avoided. Katya
has an important test she needs to take coming up in just two days. Passing this test is critical but
Katyas test anxiety is even hindering her ability just to study for the test. She had a panic attack
while studying for her test due to her extreme case of test anxiety.
In my experience I have not really suffered from test anxiety specifically, but I do know
what regular anxiety feels like. When you feel anxiety it can be easy to make mistakes or forget
important details. Test anxiety is the same but tests are entirely about your ability to recall facts
and remember things like formulas. Those mistakes and forgotten details are counted against you
in a concrete way.
For now, Katya should talk with her professor about her issues. Although there is no
guarantee her professor can do anything for her, there is still a chance they can work out a
solution. In the future, Katya should definitely seek help from a mental health professional.
Having a panic attack from something as simple as studying is a warning sign. A survey done in
2011 found that panic attacks can be a predictor for future psychological problems, like anxiety
or depression (Kinley et al, 2011). It also found that [t]he presence of panic attacks may be an
important indicator of overall psychological distress and the risk of more severe
psychopathology in the future. A study done on medical students with test anxiety showed one
cause of test anxiety was negative self-talk (Encandela et al, 2014). Katya should try to reduce
her negative self-talk. Instead of thinking that she cant pass this test she should focus on her

successes. The study also showed that test anxiety affected emotional well-being, cognitive
functioning, and physical well-being (2014). This is another reason why it is important for
Katya to seek help with her issue. Katya will take many more tests in her academic career and if
things continue the way they have it will have a very negative effect on her health as a whole. In
2011 there was also a study done on how motivation and attitudes affected course performance in
college students. Among the variables tested for which included intrinsic goal orientation,
extrinsic goal orientation, test anxiety and self-efficacy, low test anxiety and high self-efficacy
were found to be the best predictor of success in the course (Partin et al, 2011). High selfefficacy can lower a persons test anxiety. Self-efficacy is a persons beliefs about what they can
achieve. Having confidence in your ability to perform well is having high self-efficacy. If Katya
tries to develop confidence in her ability to pass the tests she will be less anxious about them. To
help develop her confidence Katya can replace her negative-self talk with positive self-talk. The
phrase believe to achieve is used a lot but in this case it really will help. If Katya believes in
herself she will be more confident. It can be hard to raise your confidence levels on your own but
a mental health professional can help guide her through the process. Most colleges have systems
in place to help struggling students. Many provide accommodations for those with test anxiety. If
test anxiety continues to be an issue after professional help, Katya should look into this.
It is important that Katya does something about her test anxiety. Her severe test anxiety
not only affects her ability to take tests, it also affects her health. The steps Katya should take to
help her with her test anxiety will also help her overall health. The numerous studies on test
anxiety show that it is an important issue and not just something that goes away on its own, so
Katya will have to work on this.

References
Encandela, J., Gibson, C., Angoff, N., Leydon, G., & Green, M. (2014). Characteristics of test
anxiety among medical students and congruence of strategies to address it. Medical
Education Online, 19, 10.3402/meo.v19.25211. doi:10.3402/meo.v19.25211
Kinley, D. J., Walker, J. R., Enns, M. W., & Sareen, J. (2011). Panic attacks as a risk for later
psychopathology: results from a nationally representative survey. Depression & Anxiety
(1091-4269), 28(5), 412-419. doi:10.1002/da.20809
Partin, M. L., Haney, J. J., Worch, E. A., Underwood, E. M., Nurnberger-Haag, J. A.,
Scheuermann, A., & Midden, W. R. (2011). Yes I Can: The Contributions of Motivation
and Attitudes on Course Performance Among Biology Nonmajors. Journal Of College
Science Teaching, 40(6), 86-95.