Freshman in need of some advice!

[c00013]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I have just finished my Freshman year with a 2.15 GPA... I know. Terrible right? Well, it wasn't due to lack of studying.
I get severe test anxiety/panic attacks. I was granted "time and a half" as well as a "stress free environment" while taking tests, but it doesn't seem to help. I study in every way possible; attending office hours, flashcards, practice worksheets and quizzes, videos, and have the material down pretty well. however, when I get into the test taking environment I freeze, second guess myself, and literally have a mental breakdown. For example, I can tell you exactly how to produce an "SN2 reaction" in Organic Chemistry, but when I get the the test setting I barley know how to spell "Organic Chemistry." Therefore, while my class participation, homework, projects, basically everything that is not a test or quiz was around a 85-95% average in each class, my tests were ranging between 30-50% and therefore I ended the semester with C-, C, and C+'s. Take away the testing scores in every class and I would have ended with B+'s and A's. I know the material, but have trouble reproducing it in the testing environment due to the severe anxiety. I have contacted my schools academic dean and have set up a appointment with a learning disability psychologist to be tested, and hopefully given a plan to bring to my school with some of the accommodations that may help me achieve better grades.
My questions are these, medical school has been my dream since I was very young. Do I still have a chance if I can figure out this issue and bring my GPA up? Like I said, its not that I am not intelligent enough to take the classes needed for medical school, I just have a extremely hard time testing. Also, has anyone else had this type of issue and resolved it/have any tips?
Thank you!

 

[Hippogriff]

Yes, you still have a chance. It looks like you're seeking professional help, which is the best first step! You may need some therapy and/or medication that is recommended by the psychologist. Best of luck OP!

 

[djsbaseball2014]

Fortunately, you have a lot of time to bounce back from this, however, not being a good test taker is putting you at a huge disadvantage because that is practically the rest of your life. In order to get good grades, you need to perform well on tests and for your situation that is hard. Also, the MCAT is a 5-6 hour long test that is major determining factor on your admissions so you should really try to get help before all of this. Look around for therapies, anything, tests will not go away! What i like to do before tests to reduce anxiety is make sure i have all my scantrons filled out before i enter the room even if the prof gives them to you, just buy it and have it ready to go. Also, get GOOD sleep before an exam lots of UG's think it is cool to pull all nighters and study their butts off the night before but it does not help at all. One thing i also found useful is go into the bathroom before an exam and get yourself hyped up, tell yourself u can't fail and you have been preparing for this for awhile etc, anything to get your mind into positive thinking. Goodluck!

 

[genericpremedstudent]

how do you expect to do well on the mcat or usmle tests if you can't even get a decent grade on a test that was taken with extended time in a "stress free environment?"

 

[YodaPsychNpPsyD]

Yes, I believe I see what's going on here, and can immediately think of some ways to approach and defeat, the issues you've been having. I see that has a lot to do with anxiety/ feelings of anxiety, along with your perceptions of things (and both things above would be addressed and attacked separately and collectively).

for the anxiety portion alone, I see that medications that help with anxiety....might ALONE help your problem (by attacking and relieving how you feel during the testing period, and that ALONE might eliminate those feelings). I would also add that if this is the only approach, to NOT stay on those medications, but to only take them initially and very sparingly/ conservatively, and take them with the mindset that "its only for right now, only to be used as a crutch to help me START OUT with feeling more comfortable within these particular settings/ contexts/ circumstances- testing, and I will stop taking them soon after), because you really don't want to NEED psych meds (or ANY meds for that matter), to live a normal life. You want to be able to do that without meds, naturally.

ALSO, what would also be great (either alone, or in combination with anti-anxiety psych meds), is various forms and variations of "exposure therapy", where, starting out very small and safe, you're little by little, exposed to stronger, less controlled, less "safe" situations, settings, and circumstances like those that trigger and incite anxiety in you. (in addition to CBT therapy, and i'll mention why at the very end, below)

A good way to do (or at least START this- exposure therapy) on your own, would be to start entering situations and contexts that SIMILAR to those that cause anxiety in you (in your case, school test taking), but yet these are much more harmless, safe, and controlled situations in which YOU have control over everything involved (which in itself takes away a great deal of anxiety and POTENTIAL anxiety, because quite simply, a big part of anxiety is feelings of lack of control. Its comprised mostly of a combination of 3 things, which i'll mention below in a second.

For now, as I was saying, a good way to start out would be to start with doing some exposure therapy on your own (much better to get help from a professional, but for now, speaking of doing it on your own-) taking PRACTICE TESTS, online, by yourself. You have plenty of control, complete control actually. And the more you get comfortable with that level of safety/ control, the more you decrease the level of safety and control. Maybe in the form of, next step from there, having a FRIEND (in person) present you with a test (maybe they get the questions from online practice tests, on the material you're learning now), and they Mark the test after. This is a good next step. Do that a few times, and get more and more comfortable with that level of safety/ control (or in other words, that level of LACK of safety/ control). Next step could be, ask your school to arrange a practice test, given to you by someone who is NOT a friend, maybe a school staff member or Teaching Assistant. Continue that until you get comfortable with that level of safety/ control. If you can think of more steps after the previous one, between that step and finally taking the real tests in school, then do those, then finally graduate to taking the real tests in school. The end goal is to get to a point where you're in these situations that consist of having a level of safety, predictability, and control, of 0 or very close to 0, and yet have very little to no anxiety, while also being able to perform effectively and successfully. Which at this current point in time, the closer you are to 0 regarding those things, the more anxious you feel, and the worse your performance is. Anyway, this should be really helpful and successful approach for you.

So now, furthermore, I would say the 3 main components of Anxiety (speaking in a very general sense)

1) intense feelings of mental discomfort or pain/ actively increasing feelings of intense discomfort or pain and

2) The feeling and/ or realization of lack of control in the situation, which is a huge factor because while in discomfort, the fact that you feel or know that you cant STOP it, nor can you stop it from continuing to increase in intensity, is what really creates the anxiety. and 2) the overall PERCEPTION of the situation, which may be the most important factor because its how you're perceiving the situation that makes you feel ((either consciously or subconsciously) that feelings and/ or actions of anxiety are appropriate, necessary, and justified Where as, another person experiencing the very same situations and stimuli, can have a different perception of it..and thus, not feel anxiety because of it. Which is why also addressing, assessing, and altering/ changing your PERCEPTIONS of those anxiety inciting situations, is also a big part of fixing and eliminating your problems in this area.

CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) is what address this exact thing. It will basically seek to figure out WHY you're perceiving things the way you are, in these particular situations and contexts, and if there's no real way to directly fix or approach it (in your case, there IS, fortunately) then the approach would be to them help you see or perceive the things differently, which again, in your case will be a great great help.

So in conclusion, best approach to this will be a combination of
1- starting out with your own types of exposure therapy, in the way(s) that I suggested above
2- CBT therapy
3- Anti-anxiety meds....just to start out, and very...VERY temporarily (do NOT continue to use any psych meds, a lot of mental health professionals, especially Psychiatrists/ MD, will not like me saying that, but take heed).

So its best to get all of this from a Psychologist (you can even get the therapy from a Masters level therapist, but they cant prescribe meds or anything and I forgot if they can even refer you to a Medical Doctor or other person who can prescribe, they may, I just forget), so it's best to go see a Psychologist and get all of this from them, a 1 stop shop, kind of thing, plus they are head and shoulders better at therapy (usually, this isnt always the case, but usually it is).

So thats you're plan, good luck, and tell me how you make out 🙂