The document summarizes the author's experiences with test-taking anxiety and athletic performance in relation to stress and arousal levels. During a biology exam, the author panicked and couldn't focus, missing questions and performing poorly. Their nervousness overwhelmed their ability to reason and concentrate. In contrast, at a swim meet the author felt adrenaline but was able to perform at their best without overthinking, setting personal records. The author suggests their arousal was too high for reasoning during the exam but provided a beneficial boost for their physical performance swimming.

1. Last semester during exam week, I spent an entire 12 hours one day studying for my biology
exam. There was no doubt in my mind that I would do well on the exam. However being my usual
paranoid self, the next morning minutes before the exam, I began to panic. I was reviewing the
syllabus points in my head, and I couldn’t seem to remember the most minute detail or exact
description. Regardless if I knew these intricate details or not, I would still do well on the exam. But
like I said, I began to panic. When I sat in for the test, I blanked out. Now I did do well on some
parts, but my nerves made me read over several things, and I ended up missing the back page
because I didn’t see it. My nervousness got in the way of my focus which ultimately caused me to
not do as well as I had hoped on that test.
James Lange theory fits well with my reaction here. Perceiving the test taking setting and the other
students in panic caused a physical response. Adrenaline was released into my body and I became
physically alert, and driven by more so of a fight or flight syndrome. This behavior had overridden
my ability to reason, focus and concentrate on the current problem, as it had me fixated more on
trying to retrieve intricate and minute information that had me panicking from the start. Had I been
able to recognize and regulate this panic and prevent the physical reaction, I may have actually been
able to maintain concentration throughout the test. Rather I followed Yerkes-Dodson theory, and
over arousal from the current test taking setting and other students inhibited my ability to perform
on the test. As the perceived arousal was too much for my body to handle.
Back a few months ago, at a swim meet I was breaking my personal records by large amounts. I
could feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins before and after each race. The races itself was a
blur. Not much reason was necessary, and I had the right amount of arousal to do well in races, but
anymore probably would have sent me on a downward spiral. James-Lange theory suggests that
physical reaction dictate emotional responses. And this is exactly what happened. The crowd, the
silence, the dive. All releasing hormones into my blood stream as I hit the water. No thinking was
needed to be done, just swim fast, that I didn’t have to think about, it was a physical reaction. The
emotions crept upon me after the race, after I could compute my accomplishments with the race
times displayed on the board. Success.
In situations in which less reasoning and logic is involved I seem to peak with the extra adrenaline
boost, however when reasoning is needed, then I sure am more likely to crash.

2. The graph below clearly illustrates the two examples where my biology exam I my arousal or stress
level was far too high causing me to perform poorly and make careless errors whereas swimming I
had the perfect amount of stress and performed well.
Swim Race 
Bio Exam 