Panic attacks in exams!

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Your reply fills me with a bit of hope! Thanks!

I have provided the college with my diagnosis papers as well as a doctors note explaining my needs. All have been ignored, I have made the plan to make a formal complaint because of this and many other issues, but I was worried they would just put me down as a U if i refused, As I know for a fact that I wouldnt be able to operate in the main exam room.

Ive given the college enough notice, as well as the learner supports email being ignored, theyve simply been asking for a formal complaint, im just having anxiety ttack over and over leading me into depression. Im sleeping inordinate amounts every time I manage to sleep :frown:

Thanks for your advice, It gives me hope that Im not being unreasonable! lol

This link is to a PDF article by JCQ. It talks about the 2010 Equality Act for Disabilities and Access Arrangements. Your college sounds like it's breaking the law. Maybe try contacting JCQ or Ofsted?

http://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/regulations-and-guidance/access-arrangements-and-reasonable-adjustments-2016-2017

Reply 21

SonoLuma

Original post by gwaggy

Thank you so much. The college has just had an ofsted inspection based on previous complaints, I will make sure to mention that I will contact ofsted if my complaint is not heeded.

In my (biased) opinion, the college has for sure broken the law. It took me over five-six weeks of asking to even get a timetable to see where my classes are! With my attendance being marked down each day!

I really appreciate you taking the time to help me, it really has made a difference on my outlook! :-)

I will formulate an email in the next few hours with strong wording concerning these acts (disability and equality)

Thanks again, I was really worried I was in an echo chamber and my college could just get away with this!

Reply 22

username1675443

Original post by SonoLuma

****! That's horrific! Complain, scream and yell! Whatever will get you heard! That's just criminal, try and see if you can get special considerations from the exam boards on top due to these events as they will have impacted you.

For example, I also got consideration due to anxiety and other mental health problems and had a percentage of the marks of the papers I sat added on!

Didn't help my grade too much though :biggrin:

Reply 23

SonoLuma

Original post by gwaggy

Haha I wish I could be ok with that too! the exams are internally moderated and marked, so chances are my examiners wont be too happy knowing I'm "causing a ruckus" (I know I'm not, they're just very callous about these issues)

Your response of "god thats horrific!" is even more comforting to me, because I left a lot of other problems out too! lol Glad to know Im not being "difficult"

I would say what the other problems are, but it would take AGES to explain the context lol. Thank you so much though for your thoughts and advice, I was so so worried!

Reply 24

Meg_xo

Original post by SophiaNeuning

Do you take any medication for your anxiety? Beta-blockers should do the job. They will make sure your heart doesn't start to beat uncontrollably and the inherent spiral of anxiety that follows won't be there.

No not yet they have been trying counselling and self help before they put me on medication

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Reply 25

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by Meg_xo

For a long time I've dealt with panic attacks and quite severe anxiety in general. In a short while I'll be sitting mocks for my A levels and quite frankly the thought of them terrifies me, it's not so much the exam as I always over prepare, it's the thought of physically getting into the room. I was just wondering if anyone knew how panic attacks were handled? For instance resists or special consideration I don't want hours of revision to be ruined by random panic?! I already have a separate room but that still frightens me! Please help

This feeling is very familar to me. The best what you can do during examinations is to leave the rooms for a while, say 10 up to 15 minutes. Just to calm down, being focused on examination by entering the room once again.

Reply 26

Meg_xo

Original post by Kallisto

Will I be penalised for leaving?!

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Reply 27

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by Meg_xo

Will I be penalised for leaving?!

I wasn't. When I was examined, the teachers in the room took the names of examinees down to prevent they can't help each other by having a break. I would ask for, if it is possible to leave the room for some minutes to have a break and to come back to concentration. If it is, I advise you to do that.

Reply 28

doodle_333

If you think you will have panic attacks in the exams then you should get rest breaks as well as a small room. With rest breaks at any point you feel panicky you can stop the clock on your test (and if your school can provide someone to come with you - leave the room) to calm down and the time is added on at the end so you don't lose time to panicking. I've had these for all my exams since I was doing A levels and it is SO helpful, I actually haven't had to use them that often but knowing that they're there takes away some of the stress.

Reply 29

doodle_333

Original post by Meg_xo

No not yet they have been trying counselling and self help before they put me on medication

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this is the right way to do it - learning to manage your anxiety yourself is far better than being reliant on medication... I also know people who say they just feel strange on beta blockers as the anxiety is still there just without physical symptoms

Reply 30

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by Plantagenet Crown

A girl in my sixth form used to get such bad pre exam stress that she would sometimes throw up and almost always feel intensely sick. For her last ever A level exams we heard that she had taken some sort of pills that made her feel extremely relaxed and she went into the exam hall smiling and laughing.

Ritalin by any chance? I have a low onpinion in terms of this pill. Pills in general. Grape sugar now and then during the examination is better and more efective.

Reply 31

Meg_xo

I spoke to my head of year and he said i need a doctors note, the irony being I'm terrified of the doctors. Also if I don't go into an exam I can't sit it, and if I do go into one but need to leave I'm not allowed to or I'm disqualified. So I'm a bit stuck

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Reply 32

fxlloutboyy

If you get a doctor's note, it's not as scary as it sounds, you just need to explain you're suffering with anxiety and would find rest breaks during exams helpful incase you panic.

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Reply 33

morris321

hey, i have my A2 exams soon. i suffer with severe panic disorder which means i struggle under exam conditions. its such a burden and means that i have taken 4 mocks in one subject because i get overwhelmed during them. I take catilopram for panick attacks but its just not helping! i revise so hard for an exam and then ruin it with anxiety :frown:

has anyone got any advice😩

Reply 34

Fiction Or Fact

The main thing that would have caused me panic attacks when I took my final exams at school was the sight of the invigilator. :lol:

(But thankfully it didn't).

Reply 35

Compost

Original post by morris321

has anyone got any advice😩

Have you considered what triggers the panic and what might help. I've found the following have helped people and they would be fairly easy for the college to implement: putting you in a room with people taking a different exam (so you don't panic when other people start writing), sitting at the back/front/side, sitting near the door with a view of it so you know you could run if you wanted.... If you think any of these would help at all, the try asking.

Reply 36

beccabokka

I had a panic attack during my exam yesterday... I started crying and then hyperventilating and because of that I was making a sound (obviously). I was shaking and I couldn't see so I couldn't do anything in that time. The invigilator came over to me with tissues and basically told me to calm down, which anyone who's had a panic attack will know is exceptionally difficult to do. She did not offer me the chance to leave and in my head I was begging for that but I couldn't ask because I wasn't capable of forming words. I've had panic attacks before and my doctor knows I have anxiety but by the time it was diagnosed we thought it was too late to ask for special arrangements and I have not on medication. Anyway, today my mum received a call from the school basically saying that it was unacceptable and distracting to other students and that if it happens again, I will be asked to leave and disqualified from all my exams. To me that just seems wrong? Idk... i wholeheartedly agree that it was probably unfair on other students which is why I thought I should have been taken out and then brought back in (and according to JCQ, at the centre's discretion) it is fine to give extra time to candidates based upon that. But I'm wondering if there's anything I can do? Because I think that other candidates should be given extra marks for a 'noise that is more than momentary' and that I should receive marks for extreme distress in the exam, but our school don't seem to be fond of that idea. Idk it just seems unfair that if something happens again that I can't control, I will be disqualified? People don't seem to understand that I can't just switch my panic attacks on and off... Idk if I can get a doctor's note and ask for a separate room for the remainder of my exams?
I'm just scared. Not to mention my mum's been yelling at me all day for it...