Exam conditions have become stricter at Swiss universities and test anxiety is increasing. selection character of examinations is a particular burden for students. In the year 1999, 16% of the clients of the Psychological Counselling Centre for Students of the University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich came because of test anxiety; in 2000 they were 17%, in 2001 19%. In this article, based on the experience with students of the Zurich Universities, possibilities of counselling and therapy of test anxiety are discussed and illustrated with individual case reports. Examinations are considered under two aspects: their real, pragmatic aspect and their emotional aspect. They each need a different approach: real anxiety can be dealt with practical methods, such as improving learning strategies, whereas anxiety caused by emotional, subjective factors requires psychotherapy. distinction between real and neurotic anxiety is important for differential diagnosis and the choice of intervention. Recent empirical studies show that factors like low self-esteem and self-doubts are stressors which impair the capacity to learn and cause anxiety. Additionally, because of their highly emotional meaning, examinations can reactivate unconscious conflicts, e.g. the fear of a punishing authority, and cause an intellectual inhibition. Here Freud's concept of inhibition (1926) is referred to, according to which an emotional conflict can restrict the functions of the ego or cause a general loss of psychic energy. Later psychoanalytic investigations (Danon-Boileau and Lab, 1962; Danon-Boileau 1984) have explored the clinical manifestations of intellectual inhibitions in children and adolescents. activity of the mind is particularly vulnerable to interferences, it presupposes a certain autonomy from emotional problems. From a psychoanalytic point of view, intellectual activities are transformations of drive impulses. As such, they are related to unconscious wishes and fantasies that determine the capacity of learning and succeeding or failing at an examination. An often occurring fantasy is that the examiner wants to harm the student. This is masterly represented by Ionesco in his play The lesson. In these fantasies, relations to the mother and the father also play an important part, including identification with a good authority. Forms of intervention and treatment of test anxiety depend on the assessment. A recent investigation at the Zurich Institute of Social Psychology about stress and resources among students shows the remarkable result that the strongest resource of students is contact with the peer-group. Preventive measures such as tutoring are appreciated by students. A careful investigation reveals if exam problems are related to an individual's history and his or her unconscious conflicts. In such cases, a psychoanalytically oriented brief therapy is indicated and can take place during exam preparations. analysis of attitudes, fantasies and projections has a relieving effect and restores the autonomy of intellectual work from affective problems. Curiosity and the pleasure of learning can be regained. Test anxiety is a complex phenomenon that can be met with a broad range of interventions, reaching from cognitive strategies to psychotherapy. It requires a flexible approach adapted to the individual needs of the students. If the basic problems which restrain or inhibit intellectual activity are explored and understood, students can pursue their development.