Helping Your Students Through Their Test Anxiety

Test anxiety is a real problem for our students. Every testing season there are students who fear the coming tests. And those students who already suffer from anxiety, low self-esteem and low self-confidence are doubly hit with the bug of test anxiety. As a teacher and as a parent, we cannot simply let these students sit in their despair, so it’s our role to support them as they tackle the monster test!

Where does test anxiety come from?

It comes from being human. If you don’t have just a little bit of anxiety taking a test, then you may not have very much motivation to perform or do well on the test. Or you might be over-confident and not study at all! A little anxiety is good! It is when anxiety is overwhelming and you cannot think straight or do anything at all where it becomes a problem. I often give my students the image of playing in a sporting event. Usually, they are a little nervous to start, but as they get going, they are more in the zone, and no longer notice their nervousness. Anxiety is totally normal and a part of being a human who has to perform in front of other humans.

This is the way that we want test taking to be for our students: a little nervous, but not so much that they stake their whole being on it.

How to help students with test anxiety? There are three places to tackle test anxiety: before, during, and after a test.

What to do before taking a test to help with anxiety…

First, it is important to remember that test anxiety is NORMAL. It is okay to feel nervous and a little overwhelmed at first. The main way to help this nervousness is to study and do your homework. Remind yourself that you know the information, and if you do not, then it will still be okay.

Kids can get especially overwhelmed when doing standardized tests. It is confusing because there may be material and questions that they do not know or understand. Remind students that on standardized tests, they may not know the information and that is okay. Remind them that just need to do their best.

Besides preparing for the actual test, you can also teach students strategies to help with their anxiety DURING the test.

What to do during a test to help with anxiety…

• Breathing. Research has shown that taking just 5 intentionally deep breathes in and out calms the body.
• Mints. Some teacher use candy or a mint to begin the test to calm students down. If you are eating, you are usually calm.
• Tense up and relax. Another strategy to calm the body is to tense up and relax. Teach students to squeeze their fists really tight, and then relax.
• Think of a calm place. If you find yourself being overwhelmed, think of something or some place that calms you down. Once you feel you are calm, return back to taking the test.
• Use your senses. Usually, when we are overwhelmed with performing it is because we are worried about the past or the future, “Oh! I didn’t do enough studying!!” or “I’m such a failure, mom is going to be so mad if I do bad!” Have your students think about what they can feel (like clothes, seat, desk, floor), hear (AC, shuffling, breathing), smell, taste, and see in the moment. This brings their attention back to the present, instead of worrying about anything else.
• Mantra. Have the students remember a mantra like, “I can do this.” To solidify this even more in their minds, attach it to their breath. Breathe in and think, “I can do this,” breath out and think, “I will do my best.”
• Remember: the test isn’t forever. The fear and nervousness of taking a test will not last forever, and it may even go away while they are taking the test.

Tackling test anxiety in the moment can be difficult, but if you teach students a lot of strategies, they will use them!

After a test, I like to teach my students to celebrate! You may not know how you did, but you did it! What is something that they can look forward to after the test? Is it candy? A party? How can they reward themselves even if their teacher or parents do not? Extra game time? It could be fun to sit with your class and think of all the ways they can reward and celebrate themselves for finishing a test.

Lastly, to really help test anxiety, parents need to be involved. Parents can help students with all of the above to really cement their confidence in their learning.

I hope that this was helpful – do you have any other tips you’d like to add?  Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear from you 🙂

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