How to Handle Panic Attacks in the Exam Hall: A Survival Guide for Nigerian Students

How to Handle Panic Attacks in the Exam Hall: A Survival Guide for Nigerian Students

Picture this. You are sitting in the CBT centre for your JAMB exam. The biometrics took forever, the hall is freezing cold, and the invigilator just shouted, “Start!”

You look at the first question. It looks like Greek. Suddenly, your heart starts pounding against your chest like a talking drum. Your hands are sweaty, your breath is short, and your mind goes completely blank. Everything you read last night? Gone.

It’s terrifying, right?

We call this “exam fever,” but often, it’s a full-blown panic attack. It happens to the brilliant students just as much as the ones who didn’t read. The good news? You can control it. Knowing how to handle panic attacks in the exam hall is a skill that can save your grades and keep you from rewriting exams next year.

How to Handle Panic Attacks in the Exam Hall

Table of Contents

Why Does This Happen?

Let’s be honest. The pressure on Nigerian students is insane. Between the fear of disappointing your parents, the stress of getting the cutoff mark for Medicine or Law, and the general tension of the exam environment, your brain sometimes thinks it’s in danger.

When your brain senses “danger,” it shuts down the thinking part (the prefrontal cortex) and activates the survival part. That’s why you can’t remember the formula for kinetic energy even though you recited it ten minutes ago.

Immediate Steps: How to Handle Panic Attacks in the Exam Hall

If you feel that wave of panic hitting you mid-exam, don’t try to force yourself to answer the questions immediately. That will only make it worse. Instead, follow these steps.

1. Pause and Reset (The 1-Minute Rule)

The moment you feel the panic rising, stop writing. Take your hands off the keyboard or put your pen down.

Close your eyes for just 30 seconds. Ignore the aggressive typing noise from the student next to you. Take a deep breath in through your nose for 4 counts, hold it for 4 counts, and exhale slowly through your mouth.

This signals to your brain that you are not being chased by a lion; you are just writing WAEC.

2. Use the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique

This is a trick psychologists use, but it works wonders in an exam hall. It forces your brain to focus on the present moment rather than the fear of failing.

Look around the hall (discreetly, so they don’t think you are spying!) and mentally identify:

5 things you can see (e.g., the monitor, your mouse, the window, a fan, a shoe).
4 things you can feel (the table, your chair, your feet on the floor, the pen).
3 things you can hear (the AC humming, footsteps, typing).
2 things you can smell (hopefully nothing bad!).
1 thing you can taste.

By the time you finish this, your heart rate usually slows down.

3. The “Brain Dump” Strategy

Once you are calm, don’t jump back to the difficult question that scared you. Find the roughest sheet of paper allowed. Quickly write down any formula, date, or fact you are afraid of forgetting.

Getting it out of your head and onto paper reduces the cognitive load on your brain. It frees up space for you to actually think.

Prevention: Stopping the Panic Before It Starts

The best way to figure out how to handle panic attacks in the exam hall is to prevent them from happening in the first place.

Simulate the Exam Environment

Most students study lying on their bed with music playing. That is not how the exam will be.

When practicing past questions, sit at a table. Remove your phone. Set a strict timer. If you are preparing for JAMB, use a JAMB simulation app. If you get used to the pressure of the clock at home, it won’t shock you in the hall.

Sleep is Not Overrated

I know the culture is to “burn the midnight candle,” but pulling an all-nighter before your paper is a recipe for disaster. Lack of sleep increases anxiety levels significantly. According to health experts at Healthline, sleep deprivation mimics anxiety symptoms.

Try to get at least 6 hours of sleep before the D-day. Your brain needs to rest to retrieve information.

Don’t Let One Question Derail You

Here is a common trap: You see Question 1, and you don’t know it. Panic starts.

Flip the script. If you don’t know Question 1, skip it immediately. Go to Question 2. If you don’t know that, go to Question 3. Find the easiest question on the paper and answer it first.

Answering one question correctly gives you a dopamine hit—a confidence boost. Once you have answered the easy ones, come back to the hard ones. You’ll be surprised how much clearer your head feels.

Conclusion

Panic attacks are scary, but they don’t define your intelligence. You have put in the work. You have attended the classes. You know this stuff.

Remember, it is just an exam. It is not a matter of life and death, even if it feels like it. Take a deep breath, trust your preparation, and crush that paper.

Have you ever experienced a “blank out” moment in an exam hall? How did you handle it? Share your experience in the comments below!