Test anxiety can be a major problem for an individual even after that individual has already completed an exam. This is because test anxiety does not necessarily end as soon as the individual completes an exam, and the individual's feelings of anxiousness and nervousness can actually interfere with other exams that the individual needs to take or interfere with tasks that the individual is attempting to perform. As a result, it is essential for an individual to try to control his or her anxiety about a particular exam as much as possible so that anxiety does not interfere with the rest of the individual's life. However, it can often be difficult for an individual to control his or her anxiety after an exam, especially for an important exam that may have unpleasant consequences for the individual if he or she failed the exam.
Fortunately, there are techniques that an individual can use to make sure that he or she is more likely to remain calm, focused, and ultimately less anxious about the exam while performing other activities. First, the individual should try to put the exam into perspective. If it was an extremely important exam, such as a licensure exam, the individual should consider questions such as "how important is this exam really," "is this the only time that I can take this exam," and "does this really mean that I won't be able to complete the goals that I have set?" Usually, for a licensure or other similar examination, the answer to each of these questions will be "no," and the individual can focus on other priorities because he or she knows that failing this exam is not the end of the world. Second, once the individual has put the exam into perspective, the individual should construct a contingency plan that states the actions that the individual can take if he or she actually failed the exam. This will allow the individual to have a plan already in place in case he or she fails the exam, in order to minimize the effects of failing as much as possible, which will usually make the individual more comfortable about his or her situation. Finally, once the individual has done all this, the individual should try to accept that there really is nothing more that he or she can do and the best thing to do is forget about the exam until he or she receives his or her exam score.