From an early age, we are judged by how we behave under pressure. But is this fair? Not everyone ________ well under pressure. But unfortunately, for these people, many important things in our lives are decided when we are under pressure. Take that ________ moment in many people’s life—the driving test. You’ve learned to drive. Driving is fun. Yet when you are sitting in a seat next to someone judging you in a pressure situation, suddenly the whole thing seems hard, even the ________ things. Putting on your seatbelt, checking your mirrors seem like great _________. As a result, you drive badly and you fail. Apparently, this is not surprising. Things that we don’t usually think about—walking, speaking —suddenly feel very difficult when we are under pressure. Going up to collect a prize in front of people how do I move my legs? How do I say thank you? Sports people also suffer from this. The simplest action suddenly seems impossible, especially if you have time to think about it. The problem is that we stop using the unconscious part of our brain and ________ to the conscious just one we need our best performance. _________, we realize that we are under performing and so we get even more stressed. Pressure situations where there is no time to think seem much easier. Untypically, we do have time to think in many of the key situations for our success in life such as, job interviews and exams. More and more young people around the world are suffering from ________ illness caused by exam pressure. One reason for the increased pressure is the competition for higher education places. These places go to the highest achievers in exams and these people are likely to be the ones who can handle the pressure best and not necessarily the smartest or hardest-working students. What can we do about this? Well, undoubtedly, being well-prepared will help—visualizing, _________ under similar conditions, practicing time and time again—these are the _______ of the professionals. Yet even the professionals sometimes find that all that practice means nothing when the real pressure is on. But, in the end perhaps the best way to deal with pressure is to try to see things in a different way. Is this test really as important as we think it is in the big picture of our life in the world? Isn’t our _______ and family more important? After all, as the top pocket player, Mark Messene, once said the only pressure I am under is the pressure I’ve put on myself.