We’ve all had nightmares about school; the showing up to school in your underwear, taking a test and running out of time, or taking a test and not remembering anything you had studied so hard for. And then there’s the classic can’t get to class on time. Not too crazy as far as dreams go, but what do they mean? Here’s some reasons you might be have these academic nightmares.

Showing up to school in your underwear. Not too scary considering it’s not realistic. So what does it actually symbolize? Underwear in dreams may symbolize fear of being embarrassed or any hidden anxiety, so maybe there’s something at school causing your stress or causing nervousness.

Taking a test and running out of time, or not being prepared is a little more realistic. But does it actually mean that you’re stressed about tests? Maybe, but a lot of the time it could symbolize an even broader topic. It could imply any general fear of failure, or a lack of preparedness in other areas of your life.

Imagine: the bell rings, and you know you’re going to be late. You start running, but you can’t get there on time. You run and run and the dream never ends. This dream may represent a big conflict in your life. You have to make a decision, and you don’t know which opportunity to take.

These school-related nightmares all represent some sort of anxiety in life and with school being such a prevalent part of students’ lives,  it makes sense that a lot of anxiety or fears would show up in the form of school and embarrassing events that occur there in dreams.