Dealing with Test Anxiety

We’ve all had nightmares about arriving to class with the sudden realization that an impending exam was on our heels. This kind of a nightmare can wake a person out of a deep sleep and the disturbing dream can be difficult to shake. A person who has test anxiety lives this nightmare every time he takes an exam.

Test anxiety is very frustrating for students, teachers and parents for many reasons. Teachers work hard to develop fair methods of evaluating a student’s progress. The exams are a big part of this process. When a student has test anxiety, the evaluation approach is not a very reliable measurement of the student’s understanding and progress.

The major problem with this troublesome condition is that it interferes with the student’s ability to demonstrate knowledge and comprehension of the materials covered in class. Test anxiety is a significant obstacle that a student has to face and it can have severe ramifications if unrecognized and untreated.

Parents may become frustrated about their child’s test anxiety because they see that he conveys understanding at home while he is studying but he is unable to perform well on exams. The frustration goes doubly for the student who feels incredibly nervous and unable to think while taking tests.

So what can be done about this? The first step is to identify the problem. This isn’t quite as easy as it may seem. It is easy to misinterpret a lack of confidence with a lack of knowledge. The student may think that he really doesn’t deserve a good grade simply because he doesn’t perform well on tests.

Once you have determined that the problem is, in fact, test anxiety, you can begin taking steps to dealing with the problem. Mental preparation and relaxation techniques are ideal strategies for dealing with this condition. The specific activities that can be used vary greatly and you may find that one works better than another.

One consistent approach is to eat a healthy snack before taking the exam. Hunger can be a great distraction and it can be a source of anxiety on a subconscious level. In order to assure that the student will do well on the exam, his primary needs should be met. Skip the sweets. Sugar and caffeine can make test anxiety much worse.

Another technique is to learn visualization and positive self-talk. If your child can learn to visualize where he or she wants to go, rather than the hazards, his or her performance will improve greatly, with far less stress.

When your child moves on to college you should realize that they may have the same problem when they get there. The difference there is that they are going to be more on their own. There are ways to overcome the test anxiety in college, and help is available, but some people never do.

Those that do well while in high school do so with the help of parents in many cases, and when the parents are no longer there day in and day out, the anxiety could come back and be a problem once again. That visualization they worked on will be a big help here.

If your child is going off to college, remind them that they can contact you whenever they need to, and that even though they are somewhat on their own now, that you are still there for them. They may find their old performance anxiety is coming back, and they may not be sure how to deal with it without you.

While it is a great idea for them to learn to deal with test anxiety on their own, they should still be able to lean on you on occasion when things are just too much for them. High school is stressful, but college is something that most students realize will affect the rest of their lives. That can stress anyone out.

It wouldn’t be a good idea for parents to go to professors or other people on the faculty at a child’s college to say the child has test anxiety. However, the parents can recommend the child does so if they think it might be affecting them again. Most colleges have people who can help with this sort of thing.

It might not get a bad grade raised after the fact, but with help, the student can learn to better manage test anxiety so that they can do better in the future.

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