How to Overcome Worries Before the Board Exams – By: Melvin Arceo

Board exams of whatever course will give you the jitters when the time comes to take it. Whether you’re a regular graduate from a community college or you graduated with flying colors from a prestigious school, your mind goes to a “what if” mode. The most common question you’ll ask yourself is “What if I fail?” Well, it is not really bad to think of failure,  for it is just part of a more complicated process, of branching out your choices when “this-and-that” happens, then leading to failure. But sometimes we think more and highlight the possibility of failure than success and that is also because it is easier to consider options when you become successful than when you fail. That is the reason why some worry so much of failure. But are there ways to overcome worries before the board exams? Apparently there are. Here are some:

1. Focus on your preparations

Have you ever watch a theatrical play? A declamation or singing contest perhaps? Or any other contest for that matter? Have you noticed actors or singers confidently giving their pieces in front of hundreds or even thousands of people? What made them that confident? It’s their preparations!

Of course actors or singers are put into test when they perform. It’s like their final exam and their grades will come from their audiences. And these performers never take their rehearsals for granted for they know, that if they do not rehearse, they will fail. Practice, as they say, makes perfect. They practice and practice that eventually their piece becomes second nature to them.  It becomes automatic! So when they go up stage and it is time to perform, they will deliver with full confidence and conviction.

You will eventually take the board exams and it is not by far different from a “performance” of an actor or singer. Unleash that confidence in you by diligently practicing and preparing for the board exams. Make it a second nature that when someone ask you a question – of course related to the exams – you will be able to answer it. And if not, you will vow to search for the answer. In that way, you will make your worries disappear because you know you can do something about it. Most of the time your worries will not come from being able to answer questions in the board exams, well guess what? You have to do your part and focus on your preparations and make your worries evaporate!

2. Be ready to compare yourself to others

They say, when you look at beauty magazines, you will look like a monkey! I really laughed hard , got my tears dropping and almost rolled over the first time I heard this saying. But then again, there’s wisdom in that saying. When you look at models in magazines they really look perfect – if not photoshop perfect – and you tend to compare yourself with those models,  and with those “perfection” – the face, body and stance – you are nowhere near their beauties and makes you look like a monkey! And that makes sense. You lose  confidence and think that you will never be like them. Imitating and making them look like you and eventually realizing and facing the facts that that will never happen will make your confidence so low that anybody can stomp on it.

It is not bad to compete with others. In fact, I am encouraging you to do that. That is, if you are ready. As I have written above, preparation makes you become more confident and when you’re confident you will become ready to take on any challenge. But when you find yourself below the scores of others, that will definitely eat away your confidence. And if this goes on and on, eventually, there will be nothing left.

Compete with yourself first then with others. Conquering yourself is not an easy task, but if you do, then it will be easy to conquer other things. How do you compete with yourself? Simple. If you have a good score on one exam, make it appoint that you will be better the next time. If you’ve read plenty yesterday, then read more today. If you have achieved better things today, then tomorrow, you should bring out the best! If you have mastered yourself, you can definitely control your future. Being ready to face your fears and conquering others.

3. Be easy on yourself

It is funny how your friends, family and even your professors will compare you to others. Especially when someone took the board exams ahead of you and made it with flying colors. You will see their posters all around your school, their pictures in the internet and professors will even brag about them, telling the whole class they were their students before. Pressure builds on your chest and sometimes you’ll feel your head will explode every time you remember what your professor said about those past achievements.

Be easy on yourself and don’t walk on shadows of others. While it is important to pass the board exams,  it is more important that you do your best and give your all, not really for others but for yourself. Sometimes too much pressure will take away your confidence and it becomes more of a hindrance rather than help. Never put yourself in a situation that makes everything harder for you.

4. Don’t think of what other might say to you

You are not really afraid of failure, aren’t you? You are only afraid of what others will say when you fail. According to my favorite social psychologist Robert Cialdini, our actions and behaviors are based on what others might think or say to us. Most of the time, it is their expectations that makes us move in their way. We pressure ourselves to satisfy them and become what they think we should become. And often than not, it gives us more worries. You not only worry about your preparations, especially when you’re already having problems with your preparations, but you also worry on how to cope up with what others would say to you when you fail. Remember, when your mind is under stress, you cannot think clearly according to Daniel Goleman the author of the book Emotional Intelligence.

So why worry about what would others say to you? You have more important things to worry about and you should focus on things more helpful in your success, of becoming a licensed professional. Stray away from expectations of others and lift the “bar” of excellence by putting your own high standards. Set the standard others will follow and not a follower of standards others have set.

5. Think of opportunities rather than threats

Preparing for the board exams gives us more opportunities than threats. Opportunity of passing the board exam is of course one of them, not to mention topping it. Opportunity of gaining more knowledge, testing your strengths and limitations, and meeting more friends that will eventually expand your network, is really exciting. It definitely outweighs the threats of failing, because if you fail the exams, what you have had gained will never be taken away from you. Still you have gained knowledge, you have tested your strengths and limitations and definitely your friends will still be there.

Threats of failure in the board exams can really be nerve-racking. Threats like you’ll be rejected by companies you will apply to, you’ll never get the job you want,  you’ll forever suffer the mockery of your friends, are just the products of the imaginative mind of some. But those are half-baked truth. You can still get the job you want, especially, if the job you want doesn’t require professional license and only needs the skill you possess. You can get to a company you like, especially, if you know someone from there. And true friends will not mock you but will help to make you feel better.

So go on, take the board exams without worries. Always remember that worries are fruits of your mind. Just think of these five things and have a worry-free board exams! Good luck!!!