My anxiety is getting in the way

diana_1214

After receiving my November score I’m feeling extremely discouraged. I know I can score between a 166-171 when I don’t feel the pressure of the time. I preform well on individual sections but the I haven’t been able to replicate the same results on the exam. I currently have accommodations with extra time and stop/start breaks, but it’s not enough to stop me from having an anxiety attack in front of my proctor. I have taken this exam many times and I want january to be my last exam. Please if anyone has any advice I’d greatly appreciate it because I’ve tried everything for my anxiety (exercise, meditation, acupuncture, taking breaks etc) Thank you in advance.

WickedLost

If you've already tried exercise/meditation I would suggest talking to a therapist as well. A good therapist can help you identify the root cause of your anxiety attacks and give you tools to reframe your approach when they occur.

canihazJD

Figure out what is limiting you to 171 on your PTs and address it. Instead of asking how can I directly address anxiety, sometimes it is more productive to focus on being able to perform in spite of it. That can be achieved through mastery of the content, which happily has the effect of also reducing anxiety. Setting aside the threshold for diagnosable anxiety, in a performance test, we all will experience it to some degree. The surefire way for me to break 170 on the test was to make sure I could consistently nail a high 170s score on PTs.

CarrytheBoats-1-1-1

Have compassion for your anxiety! Instead of thinking of it as "getting in the way," frame it differently. It is trying to protect you and help you. Your thoughts aren't always in line with reality of course, so just kindly and gently remind that part of you (in however helps you best... i.e. through breathing exercises, hugging a pillow/stuffed animal/pet, etc.) that you have a job for the next few hours and then you are free to process that anxiety more if needed. Sometimes I've found that doing something totally random helps too. Doing burpees on the 10 minute break helps because I hate them and it shifts my focus to how much I hate them instead of how much I'm frustrated with LSAC, haha. Hope that helps!