For biology and physics labs the work was done in partners so if I ever felt like I didn't know what was going on I could just ask my partner. In chemistry there were no partners, you were completely on your own. This was a big thing that scared me. There was also the fact that I had never been in a chemistry lab and did very few chemistry experiments in high school.
Even now I still have anxiety about my chemistry labs but it wasn't like it was at the beginning. After my first lab I got really anxious and the night before the second lab I was feeling really ill and tried desperately to figure out a way to miss it (since you can't skip labs without a doctor's note). I wasn't physically sick, it was just the anxiety that was making me feel like that. I ended up skipping my other classes that day but I made myself go to the lab. I did the experiment just fine but I was still shaky and didn't know my way around the lab. I had another freak out writing my lab report for the first time since my calculations wouldn't make sense. It took me around six hours to write my first report.
I think the only thing that helped me get over my lab anxiety was just going to the labs and getting used to the whole process. At the beginning of the lab, I still spend the first ten minutes or so looking around in confusion despite the fact that I read over the lab at least six times. However, I'm able to think about the labs without getting sick and I can sleep well the night before a lab so I think I've improved quite a bit. The only way I've ever been able to deal with my anxiety was to just do the thing that made me anxious, although it's hard, once I get used to a situation my anxiety calms down.
Funny thing is that I like my chemistry lab the best now. It's really hands on and I think I learn a lot by having to do everything on my own. It's easy to tell what you are getting marked for and there's no final lab exam, unlike biology.
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