Katya’s Scenario

A freshman student with 3.0 G.P. A experiences severe test anxiety because she must get

good grade on her exam to keep her scholarship. Even though I am not very often having test

anxiety during exam or test, I still have sometime have anxiety from the test. And I am very

sure I can help Katya. First, I think Katya’s stressor is that she needs to get a good grade because

she needs to keep her scholarship. I something got anxiety before the test is that I have a grade

on 80% or 90 % because I very scary of the exam lower my grade and I lost all my efforts.

However, those anxieties are a good thing for me. I just need to have it, because whenever I

have anxiety before an exam, I usually can get a good grade. According to Bower, student who

has anxiety during an exam, they very likely got 6 % higher grade than the student doesn’t have

anxiety before the exam (Bower). However, one thing she might need to do is she need to

believe that her efforts will make a difference.

Even though test anxiety has benefit, too many anxieties are not a good thing. For example,

un the scenario, Katya has panic attack. It is not a good thing. She definingly need to solve this

problem. To reduce some test anxiety, Katya need some technique. And I found some good

technique from Dr. Keith Beard’s paper. And those technique can very help Katya. The first

one is Visualization and Imagery. This anxiety reduction technique helps people in making a

mental image of what they want to accomplish (Beard). For example, an individual might wish

to release their anxiety or create a relaxing image to escape momentarily from a stressful event

(Beard). For this one Katya need to image what would happen if she can get an A or B in her

chemistry class. I think it will help her reduce some anxiety. The second technique is

diaphragmatic breathing. This technique involves breathing sufficient amounts of O2 to help a

person's blood fill with oxygen and be purified properly to reduce anxiety (Beard). For this one,

when Katya getting too much anxiety, she can take a deep breath to get more O2 to helps he

reduce anxiety. Also, she can get some O2 by doing so workout.

Since the exam is coming soon, she needs to take some action now. She can apply those

method now and study as much as she can. One very important thing is that don’t think

something else, just study anything that she can study. And minimum the thing that she needs

to remember. If she follows those, I am 99 % sure that she can keep her scholarship. Ans she

needs to believe that she can do it.

In the future, she can follow Mahfouz’s method to succus in college. In Mahfouz’s method,

the first thing she need to do is to improved organization and time management (Mahfouz). As

a second year of college, I am sure that time management is very important. A poor time

management can cause anxiety. Also, Mahfouz need us to commitment to a healthy lifestyle

(Mahfouz). As what we learn from this class, a healthy lifestyle can very reduce anxiety. Also,

we need to have good relationship with people (Mahfouz). We all know that poor relationship

can cause many stresses. All in all, if she can do all that, she can avoid many unnecessary

anxieties during her college life.

At the end, if I was in Katya’s situation, I defiantly would seek professional help because

it is the most effective way to reduce anxiety. Also, I might learn something from the people

who helps me. From health perspective, I will do some work out, and think positively to

decrease anxiety and learn optimism. Lastly, two good ways to form realistic expectations

before beginning each semester are look at the syllabus and use 168 hours work sheet to make

a plan.
 Works Cited

Bower, B. (2011). The write stuff for test anxiety. Science News, 179(4), 9. https://doi-

org.ezp.pasadena.edu/10.1002/scin.5591790407

Beard, K., PsyD, Atkins, W., & Wienclaw, R. A., PhD. (2019). Anxiety Reduction Techniques.

In B. Narins (Ed.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health (4th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 123-127).

Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. Retrieved from https://link-gale-

com.ezp.pasadena.edu/apps/doc/CX2491200043/HWRC?u=pasa19871&sid=HWRC&xi

d=b82a4436

Mahfouz, J., Levitan, J., Schussler, D., Broderick, T., Dvorakova, K., Argusti, M., & Greenberg,

M. (2018). ENSURING COLLEGE STUDENT SUCCESS THROUGH

MINDFULNESS-BASED CLASSES: JUST BREATHE. College Student Affairs Journal,

36(1), 1. Retrieved from https://login.ezp.pasadena.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.ezp.pasadena.edu/docview/2160297163?accountid=28371