A guest post by In-Home Tutors’ Jenna Wattenberger
I’ve been a private Roswell tutor to some great kids over the past four years. In this time, I’ve heard a lot of the same complaints from parents and kids: She just gets nervous. It gets time to take the test, and she blanks. I don’t know what happened. With the new school year well under way, many students are now facing tests on content covered over the past two months — and may be suffering varying levels of test-taking anxiety. In fact, the statistics are a bit staggering: in a 2010 study in the journal Applied Psychophysical Biofeedback, Bradley and associates report that 61% of students experience test-taking anxiety at some point in their academic career, while 26% of students experience it “almost always.”
Whether I’m helping a senior study for the ACT or working as a Georgia Milestones tutor, I’ve found these strategies helpful in getting kids prepared for test day.
Help your child to improve their study skills and test-taking strategies.
It’s a hard cycle to break. A student goes into a test under-prepared. After performing poorly, she feels increased stress that makes her more nervous about the next test. This leads to ineffective studying or worse, total procrastination. And then yet another low test score comes home. Stop this cycle with better study skills. Have your child use note cards to keep track of important concepts and ideas. Encourage her to keep save old tests and classwork so that she can work off of those to prepare. Encourage her to review material she has learned on a weekly basis so that she doesn’t feel overwhelmed with studying at the last minute. This is where a private tutor, such as a homework coach, can really help–especially if ADHD is a factor. Finally, test-taking techniques such as eliminating wrong answers first on multiple-choice tests, knowing that true/false answers seldom include the terms “always” or “never”, and saving difficult questions for last can help students to feel less pressured for time when taking tests, which may reduce anxiety.
Use Available Resources.
With parents permission, I’ve sometimes contacted teachers myself to gain access to test materials. You are also welcome to do so as a parent, especially if you have a good rapport with the teacher. Utilize practice tests if your child is studying for a standardized test such as the SAT or an AP exam. That way, they can not only review the material, but they can also become more comfortable with the test format itself. Recreate test-taking conditions by using a timer and having your child sit at a desk. Most teachers provide study guides and practice tests, so make sure your child is bringing them home! They can sometimes be found at the end of each chapter in textbooks. If your child does not have access to a practice test, you can create one using a free online test-taking generator such as Testmoz.
Teach your child how to recognize test anxiety.
Research published in the November/December 2011 issue of the journal Teaching Exceptional Children notes that elementary students are more likely to have physical symptoms of test anxiety. Older students may express test anxiety through behavioral and affective symptoms. Teach your child to recognize the physical signs of test anxiety, such as sweaty hands, shaking, or butterflies in the stomach. These symptoms do not mean that something is wrong, but that he is anxious. Older students may procrastinate studying or become frustrated or annoyed when they are anxious, so encourage your child to consider the root of their behaviors and help them find positive ways to address those behaviors.
Utilize exercise, deep breathing, and self-talk to reduce anxiety symptoms.
I always encourage my students to exercise before the big test! Doing so reduces the amount of adrenaline the body produces. Adrenaline is responsible for the physical symptoms of anxiety, so reducing adrenaline may help calm those symptoms. Similarly, deep-breathing exercises can affect the body’s nervous system response, helping to produce neurohormones that will block stress-response hormones (like adrenaline) and help your child to feel more relaxed and calm. Finally, many students may engage in negative self-talk that can cause them to have ideas such as “I can’t pass this test” or “I never do well in this class.” Encourage your child to re-frame his thoughts by repeating a statement such as “I know I studied for this and my job is just to do the best that I can.” This helps to take some of the pressure off your child while also helping him to feel encouraged about his abilities.
Five Deep Breaths
Often if a student with test anxiety comes across a difficult problem, he may become anxious and lose focus due to the anxiety. If this happens to your child, teach him how to refocus during such situations. Tell him to stop, put down his pencil, and take five deep breaths to calm his body and bring his mind back into focus. Remind him that he can move on from a problem and come back to it if the problem feels difficult or is taking up too much of his time.
Test anxiety affects many students and it can lead to a number of academic difficulties if not addressed. By using the above strategies, your child may be able to reduce the symptoms of test-taking anxiety and increase their academic performance on tests.
If you’d like to enlist a private in-person tutor near you, please call us for a consultation at 770-645-8750. We provide one-on-one, in-home tutoring to students all over Metro Atlanta.
