JoonWoo Koo

Project 3: Case Study Analysis

HED044

Katya is a well organized student who strongly seeks to successfully achieve her

academic goal with a 3.0 grade average point. She never feels fulfilled with her efforts

especially during the exam period as she is terrified of losing her scholarship. This leads

her to feel a severe anxiety before the test. Later, during her study for the exam, she

had a panic attack that she couldn't make it to her exam. Here are some tips I would like

to suggest to her to overcome her problems.

Although, I feel like having anxiety before and during any tests is normal to

anyone who is in the situation. As in terms of being the same student as Katya, I cannot

lie that I don’t feel the same. It’s whether the amount of anxiety is severe or not. I never

had the experience of having a panic attack before the exam but I’d say I have a certain

mindset that gets me out of the system. Confidently, I have figured out how to release

the stress towards the test by doing something I like to do and tell myself that the effort

will eventually show up. The more anxious I feel, the more I will ruin my exam in the

meantime. These thoughts I have in my mind actually worked multiple times with my

previous exams such as my final exam of high school where Korean schools have a

demand for it. Korean education is more deeply connected with the grade I will get and

it will decide whether or not I will go to college or not. This can scare off anyone in

Korea but I was trying to focus on what I can do right in front of me instead of feeling

anxious.
 Furthermore, I have found a perfect article that is relevant to my school based

anxiety strategy. It is a strategy called mindfulness and talks about the effectiveness of

supporting anxiety. Directly taking from the statement from the article, “An example of a

mindfulness-based art activity involves coloring structured mandalas (circles composed

of symmetrical shapes), which have been included in many educational settings as

coloring in the shapes enables an experience of focused attention and awareness of

present moment experiences”. (Carsley & Heath, 2020, pg. 518) The article indicates

that acceptance of the current situation that was given is the one strategy that

significantly showed effectiveness, with an additional activity. Overall anxiety is mostly

assessed through specific items that relate to worry as well as Katya is experiencing.

Another way of overcoming the anxiety is to write down all the negative thoughts and

worries they feel at the present. (Gabriel, 2022, pg. 34) Fantasizing our worries can be a

dangerous component as we as a human tend to extend our worries in our head bigger

than the actual situation. Writing in paper can be the greatest way to visualize the

actuality of reality. As we can branch out the problems with solutions while we write

down on the paper can outright what we worry the most. From here I’ve learned that

writing a diary was what we learned in elementary school was the greatest thing to do

as we get older. Another interesting way to overcome this is one method I’ve tried,

boxing. To indicate how boxing can affect our stress is how the article is saying “The life

and boxing skills he teaches includes the importance of controlled breathing and living

in the moment”. This is a very important part since stress and anxiety can cause a

problem with breathing therefore it leads to panic attack. From the article, boxing is
recommended by a therapist and I also can confirm that this was the best solution.

(Bukovac, 2023)

Katya is a well determined student yet she doesn’t know how to deal with all the

pressures since everything is now dependent on her actions and results in order to

continue to thrive. My last recommendation is to continue to believe in herself and try to

cope with her lifestyle to balance her free time and study.
 References

Bukovac, J. (2023, January 2). Boxing program helps people overcome anxiety,

depression. CNN Wire Service.

https://login.ezp.pasadena.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezp.pasaden

a.edu/wire-feeds/boxing-program-helps-people-overcome-anxiety/docview/27599

97732/se-2

Carsley, D., & Heath, N. L. (2020). Effectiveness of mindfulness-based coloring for

university students’ test anxiety (Vol. 68). JOURNAL OF AMERICAN COLLEGE

HEALTH. Retrieved April 30, 2023, from

https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2019.1583239

Gabriel. (2022). Maths anxiety – and how to overcome it. (Vol. 19). Significance (Oxford,

England). https://doi.org/10.1111/1740-9713.01612