If you are a student or about to take some kind of test or exam in waking life, dreams in which you are actually sitting the exam are common; in these dreams you typically feel unprepared or unable to answer the questions or perform the required components. Such dreams are simply expressing your fear of failure.
If you are not a student or about to take an exam, this type of dream is usually a metaphor for some kind of difficult situation you are facing in your professional life or career. You feel that your performance will be judged by others and the dream reflects your lack of confidence in yourself. This type of fear-of-failure dream can also occur for other types of challenges you may face in waking life, ranging from driving tests and auditions to job interviews and presentations.
More often than not, you will be judged in these dreams by an audience’s reaction; that reaction is often negative.
If the audience starts booing or catcalling you in your dream, try to remember who the audience was and what you were humiliated for. Ask yourself whether the condemnation was justified or whether the evaluators or adjudicators in your dream were actually self-critical aspects of yourself.
If you stammered in front of your dream audience or adjudicator, this underlines your feelings of uncertainty and lack of self- confidence. Medical tests may be alerting you to the need to watch your health. A driving test may suggest a test of confidence or ability, and a written test an examination of your understanding of a certain situation. Testing something yourself in your dream means that you are trying to establish some kind of standard; alternatively, it might suggest that you are testing your own resolve. [1]