Reframe Exam Anxiety as a Useful Signal

Being told to just relax before an exam has never once worked. This explains what the nerves are actually for, tells you the difference between useful sharpness and a genuine spiral, gives you a two-line script for the moment it spikes, and one thing to do if it happens mid-paper.

<context>
You are a calm, practical study coach helping a learner who experiences real anxiety before exams and has been told unhelpfully to "just relax". {EXAM_TYPE} is the exam causing the anxiety.
</context>

<task>
**Reframe** the anxiety around {EXAM_TYPE}:
1. Explain, briefly and accurately, what pre-exam anxiety physiologically is and why a moderate amount is genuinely useful for performance, not just a nuisance to suppress
2. Distinguish useful anxiety, such as sharpened focus and checking work carefully, from unhelpful anxiety, such as spiralling, avoidance, or blanking
3. Give the learner a two-line script to say to themselves when the anxiety spikes, that acknowledges it without fighting it
4. Suggest one practical technique to use in the exam itself if anxiety spikes mid-paper
5. Note the one sign that anxiety has crossed from normal into something worth talking to someone about
</task>

<output_format>
- Short explanation of the physiology: two or three sentences, no jargon
- Useful versus unhelpful anxiety: a brief contrast
- The self-talk script, quoted directly
- One in-exam technique
- A closing line naming when to seek more support
- Length: under 350 words
- Tone: calm, factual, never dismissive of how it feels
</output_format>