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Secondary education

exam anxiety

5 replies

halfthewaytothemoon · 03/02/2015 00:02

DS is about to start AS mocks. He is not the most academic child but hard working and insightful. Unfortunately he suffers with Exam anxiety which surfaced in Yr 11 and got progressively worse through GCSEs. We have tried everything we can think of to reduce the pressure of exams but without much success ... the very act of revision increases his anxiety.. this impedes his learning.... which in turn impacts on exam success ... which then fuels his anxiety about exam failure .... and so it goes on....
We have thought of therapy but do not want to make to big a deal in case we make him worse...
Any suggestions. He has been achieving Bs so far in his AS school work, which is fantastic. He really wants to succeed and go on to uni.

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BOFster · 03/02/2015 00:04
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Poisonwoodlife · 03/02/2015 18:23

Yes my DD did some CBT, she also saw a hypnotherapist, not to be hypnotised, she gave her some techniques for when she feels the anxiety provoking thoughts / panic attacks coming on. She still suffers from anxiety and panic attacks though but somehow, especially at AS and A level seems to be able to stave it off in the actual exam, once she gets herself focused on her ideas. GCSE is so much more stressful in terms of having to learn and regurgitate a lot of information in the exam.

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Poisonwoodlife · 03/02/2015 18:27

Our GP recommended a website that helped you with DIY CBT, it was one with no commercial motivation. I am sorry but I do not have the link but our GP was actually very sympathetic and helpful in recommending where we could get help. I suppose doctors are no strangers to exam stress.......

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halfthewaytothemoon · 05/02/2015 22:58

someone at work mentioned CBT but I doubt DS would go to GP. Ours are lovely but he would probably end up with a CAMS referral. we have found someone who does NLP (neuro-lingistic-programming, a form of hypnotherapy)
Does anyone have any experience of this and was it successful?

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BOFster · 05/02/2015 23:07

It looks like I gave you a bum link there, OP. But you can actually get CBT books on prescription, free. Have a google?

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