Taking exams or driving test are very anxious time, particularly when students realize that much of their future life depends on the results. Hypnotherapy can be valuable to help manage exam anxiety, particularly for people who know their material well but do badly in exams because of nerves. Anticipatory anxiety before exams can be reduced with desensitisation techniques. In hypnosis before exams, students can be given suggestions that they will sleep easily, that they will feel calm before the exam, and that their memory is excellent.

Students can be taught anxiety management routines for use at the start of exams. One such technique is self-hypnosis in which you place a hand momentarily over your eyes and think of a key word that has been give to you during a hypnosis session to promote feelings of instant relaxation. Another technique is the clenched fist. Here the student enters an hypnotic trance, recalls a situation when they felt confident and relaxed, then makes a list with their right hand. The idea is that whenever they close their hand into a fist they will experience those uplifting feelings once again.