Doreen Sykora is now a junior at Mcill University. She had a difficult time when she began college. She said, "I was always well prepared for my examinations. But I would go into class to take the exam, and I would fall apart. I could not answer the questions correctly - even though I knew the answers! I would just blank out because of nervousness and fear." Hitoshi Sakamoto, an anthropology student at Temple University in Tokyo reports similar experiences.

These two young students were experiencing something called test anxiety. When a student worries and is stressed about a test, his or her mind does not work as well as it usually does. The student cannot write or think clearly because of the severe tension and nervousness.

Now there are special university courses to help students. In these courses, advisors and psychologists try to help students by teaching them to manage test anxiety. Such a course helps students learn to live with stress and not fail because of it. First, students take a practice test to measure their worry level. If the tests show that their stress level is high, the students can take a short course to manage the fear. These courses teach students how to relax their bodies. They get training to become calm in very tense situations.

By controlling their nervousness, they can let their minds work more easily.

Learned information then comes out without difficulty on a test.

Doreen Sykora saw immediate results after taking such a course. She now has enthusiasm about the relaxation methods. "Mostly, what I do is imagining myself in a very calm place. Then I imagine myself picking up a pencil. I move slowly and carefully. I breathe easily and let all the tension out. With each breath, more worry leaves me. It really works. My grades have improved greatly! I'm really doing well at McGill now. This relaxation method works not only on examinations, but it has improved the rest of my life as well. "

For Hitoshi in Tokyo, the results were much the same. He is enjoying school a lot more and is learning more.