Test anxiety is a common experience for most students. Anxiety can become a problem for some causing them to feel overwhelmed and unable to focus during the exam. The following is a combination of strategies and techniques designed to help alleviate test anxiety.
In general you need three things to succeed:
- Preparation:
Learn what the test covers and study the areas you don’t know very well. During this preparation time you should carve out some time where you use strategies for reducing test anxiety as part of your studying.
- Organization:
Staying organized includes creating a clear, targeted study plan for the weeks leading up to the test and sticking to that study plan.
- Practice:
The more you are used to sitting, answering the practice test questions and finding a good pace, the more comfortable you will feel when you sit down and write the actual test.
General preparation/building confidence:
Review your personal situation and skills, what have you done well?
- Have you developed good study habits and strategies?
- Have you been managing your time wisely (dealing with procrastination, distractions, and laziness)?
- Is your material organized? Take a step by step approach to build a strategy and not get overwhelmed
- Are external pressures affecting you? How can you manage these so you can effectively study?
- Review your past performance on tests to improve and learn from experience
Test preparation to reduce anxiety
- Approach the exam with confidence:
Use whatever strategies you can to ensure success: visualization, logic, talking to yourself, practice, team work, journaling, etc. - Be prepared!
Learn your material thoroughly and organize what materials you will need for the test. Use a checklist. - Allow yourself plenty of time, especially to do things you need to do before the test and still get there a little early.
- Avoid thinking you need to cram just before.
- Exercise is an excellent stress reliever.
- Get a good night’s sleep the night before the exam.
- Don’t go to the exam with an empty stomach.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are often recommended to reduce stress.
Stressful foods can include processed foods, artificial sweeteners, carbonated soft drinks, chocolate, eggs, fried foods, junk foods, pork, red meat, sugar, white flour products, chips and similar snack foods, foods containing preservatives or heavy spices. Avoid high sugar content (candy) and caffeine which may aggravate your condition - Take a small snack, or some other nourishment to help take your mind off of your anxiety.
- Try avoiding arriving too early or too late. Make sure you know which building, classroom and time you are writing the test.
- Choose a seat away from the high traffic areas so you won’t be distracted.
- Sit alone and avoid chatting to others. Chatting with others can sometimes cause you to question your knowledge if they have a different understanding of a particular aspect of the class. In addition, anxiety can be contagious. If they are anxious you may draw off their energy.
- If you are aware that you have a problem with test anxiety, be sure your teacher or instructor knows before any testing begins (and not the hour before!).
There may be other options to evaluate your knowledge or performance within the subject matter.
During the test:
- Read the directions carefully.
- Quickly survey every page of the test.
- Budget your test taking time.
- Change positions to help you relax.
- Answer the easiest questions first to build confidence.
- If you go blank, skip the question and go on.
- Don’t panic when students start handing in their papers. There’s no reward for finishing first.
- If your mind goes blank, start writing anything on a piece of paper, this can help organize a response and get you back to a focused state.
- Multiple choice questions, cover up the answers and try and answer the questions on your own and then see if your answer matches any of the ones listed.
- If you find yourself tensing and getting anxious during the test:
Relax; you are in control. Take slow, deep breaths
- Don’t think about the fear, pause: think about the next step and keep on task, step by step
- Use positive reinforcement for yourself: acknowledge what you have done, and are doing your best
- Expect some anxiety. It’s a reminder that you want to do your best and can provide energy. Just keep it manageable
- Realize that anxiety can be a “habit” and that it takes practice to use it as a tool to succeed.
After the test:
- After the test, review how you did.
- List what worked, and hold onto these strategies. It does not matter how small the items are: they are building blocks to success.
- List what did not work.
- Celebrate! You are on the road to overcoming this obstacle.
References
https://www.ets.org/s/praxis/pdf/reducing_test_anxiety.pdf
http://www.studygs.net/tstprp8.htm
http://counselling.athabascau.ca/exam_anxiety.php