CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study:
Low performance of students in exams especially external exam is no longer news in Nigeria. Over the years, stakeholders in this field having been working tirelessly to remedy the ugly phenomena unfortunately, their effort is yet to yield any significant impact. A situation that is giving all the tiers of Nigerian Government sleepless night.
Various factors have been identified as hindrance to promoting academic excellence in Nigeria, among which are, poor funding of education, lack of infrastructure in the school, lack of man-power etc. On the part of the students, lack of interest, love for money or  what is known as get rich quick syndrome were identified. Unfortunately, none of them was able to see exam anxiety. At times, students will read very well  yet he or she will perform poorly in exam simply because of tension. Exam itself causes anxiety to some students (Nelson, 2001). studies have shown that exam anxiety makes a student to forget all that he or she studied (Nelson 2002).
          Clear understanding of features of anxiety is enough  proof to it’s effect on remembering. Anxiety causes muscle tension which makes the brain t be unrelaxed thereby causing forgetfulness.
          Anxiety is complex and mysterious. The more you learn about it, the more baffling it seems. It is a negative mood state that is characterized by bodily symptoms of physical tension and apprehension about the future. (American Psychological Association 1994; Durand & Barlow 2002). It can also be seen as a subjective sense  of unease, a set of behaviours (such as looking worried, anxious or fidgeting) or a physiological response originating in the brain and reflecting on elevated heart rate and muscle tension.
          During anxiety reactions or response, the heart, lungs, and other parts of the body work faster. The brain also releases the emergence (stress) hormone adrenaline and cortisol (Obidigbo, 2008) people who experience this disorder usually report being unhappy and behavious is maladaptive.
In school, some students experience some kind  of anxiety disorder within their stay in school, (Nelson, 2002) and the  most common is examination anxiety. Examination anxiety may manifest among students through admission of wrong or series of unwarranted fear, rapid breathing, through meticulous cautions. (Nelson 2002).