Letters swarm in front of my eyes and my hands start shaking. My mind is running but I can’t quite make sense of anything. I constantly check the clock and watch the time tick away, second by second, wasting precious time. I take a deep breath in a feeble attempt to try to calm myself down. Time’s up. My heart sinks as I know yet another test is finished, and I already know that I didn’t do well.

Every time I take have to take an exam, quiz or test, the same symptoms happen. My hands shake. I can’t concentrate. I can’t remember anything, regardless of how much I studied for it. I recall past times where I fail and can only focus on that.

I have test anxiety. I always have, and chances are I always will.

Test anxiety is not the same thing as diagnosable anxiety, let’s get that straight, and it’s in no way comparable to it. Test anxiety can vary from person to person. Some people just get nervous before a test, which is pretty normal. Others have such a severe case of test anxiety that they can feel nauseous and even have a panic attack. The fact remains the same: test anxiety hinders the overall performance of students.

My parents say I’ve been hard on myself for as long as they can remember. Even in kindergarten, I expected only the best from myself. For the most part, it never directly impacted my performance in school. But as I got older and classes grew more difficult, my test anxiety worsened. It began impacting not only my grades but my confidence. I doubted my abilities in class. I would dread any sort of test because of what would happen.

I am a firm believer that tests aren’t the way to accurately measure student’s abilities. There are too many people who, like me, have some form of test anxiety and can’t perform to their best capacity.

Or for the students who struggle to focus for long periods of time, how is testing fair to them? Too many students are left feeling defeated after they are forced to take a test where large portions of their grade are dependent on them performing well.

Why should we continue to expect all students to be the same when it comes to testing? There are other options out there. Options that benefit larger groups of students. Why not have big projects take the stage? That gives the option of having more time to think and plan out and show that you know the material and understand the concepts.

Or, if tests are necessary, to not put so much pressure on them and to have more time for students to work through the problems. My high school did this, and succeeded. There were no final exams at my school because they knew that exams didn’t accurately reflect how well a student was doing in the course. It was successful and reduced much of the pressure that is placed on students.

It’s time for schools and universities to take a stand and realize that exams and huge tests are not the way to go. Let’s make some changes to benefit students everywhere.