Reflection: Mind mapping –Exam Anxiety

Challenge and selection

Anxiety during exams has been a major challenge to me. It affects my concentration and ability

to respond to questions. As a result, my performance is usually below my expectations. After the

exam, I find myself easily responding to questions that I was unable to respond to during the

exams.  Therefore, I decided to use a mind mapping design thinking tool to establish causes or

factors that could possibly be leading to exam anxiety and possible solutions. Mind-mapping is a

great tool used in brainstorming ideas and problem-solving. Studies show that it improves

creativity and is an important tool to use when exploring a problem and trying to find possible

causes and solutions to that problem. Mind mapping has also been widely used in schools to

enhance problem-solving skills among students. I have also used it in other areas, for example, in

establishing a relationship between concepts taught in class. Having effectively worked in these

areas, I believe mind mapping can help me understand the causes and solutions to my exam

anxiety problem.

Application

Before starting the mind-mapping process, the first requirement was to have a pen/pencil,

markers for coloring, and a large sheet of paper to draw and freely put my ideas. So, I started the

mind mapping process by taking an A4 size sheet of paper and a pencil and placed on the table.

Then, at the center of this paper, I drew a rectangular box and then wrote “Exam anxiety” inside

it. I drew this box at the center of the sheet so that I could freely write any ideas or thoughts that

came to my mind in any direction of the paper. I drew a rectangular image because, in the

process of drawing this rectangle and coloring it, my brain was actively engaged in the topic,

which helped me think critically. The central image helped my brain remain focused and

concentrated on this central problem, which has negatively affected my performance.

Then, I drew six lines originating from the central image outwards. At the end of each line, I

drew oval shapes. In each of these oval-shaped diagrams, I wrote what I believed were the main

causes of my exam anxiety. Each cause was written in its own oval-shaped box. Then from each

of these oval-shaped boxes (which represented the causes of my exam anxiety), I made several

branches, with each branch indicating the possible solution to the identified cause. Some causes

had more than two solutions, while others shared similar solutions.

From the solution boxes (which represented the third level branches), I noted down several ideas

on what I would do to implement those solutions to address my problem. For instance, if the

solution is developing and following a personal timetable, other branches coming from this

solution include the date of implementing this solution. This ensured that the entire mind-

mapping process not only proposed solutions to my challenge but also allowed me to plan and

set timelines to implement that solution to see whether improvements would be made. At the end

of this process, I came up with a plan to address the exam anxiety problem, which was a success

of this mind-mapping tool.

Insight and Approach

From this activity, I have learned that mind mapping is a crucial design thinking tool for finding

solutions to some of the challenges facing them. It helps one to think critically about the

challenge they are facing and freely represent their thoughts textually and graphically and

eventually find a solution. It allows one to carefully examine what they could have been doing

wrong and hence decide what they should do to address their challenges. I had never thought of

using this tool to address my exam anxiety problem. I am hopeful that if I implement the

identified solutions, I will not experience exam anxiety during examinations.

Therefore, since this mind mapping tool has been fruitful, I think I would apply the same tool in

the future. The only thing that I would change is perhaps to use a different style, such as using

branches instead of boxes, because this would not limit me. I would follow the direction of the

branch until I exhaustively explore the issue.

