The Horrifying Feeling of Test Anxiety
… and how to get rid of it.
Having to write tests in school, be it at the elementary school level, or at the university level is stressful and anxiety inducing, and also as it seems, very difficult to avoid. An article written by Valerie Stauss for the Washington Post explained why test anxiety in recent years has been increasing, and three ways we can try and avoid it. She defines test anxiety, as anxiety that is more severe than normal and that revolves around taking a test: a feeling of incredible distress not only during the exam, but before and after as well. According to the American Test Anxiety Association, severe test anxiety affects 20 percent of school children and potentially another 18 percent of school kids with a slightly lower level of test anxiety. That is a total of almost 40 percent of all school-going children that suffer from some sort of test anxiety. As you can see, this is not a small problem, but a problem that affects many kids today.
Valerie Strauss goes on to give three tips originally produced by Annie Murphy Paul on how to overcome test anxiety.
Tip #1: [Expressing yourself on paper]- Before the exam, students are told to take a piece of paper and quickly jot down whatever is on their mind. By leaving these thoughts on paper, when it is time for the exam, students are able to find the information they need to write the exam more easily available to them than other times.
Tip #2: [Breaking stereotypes] — Certain stereotypes about various genders, or groups of kids add extra stress and anxiety before writing an exam for fear that if they fail they will be confirming those negative and false assumptions. In order to overcome this anxiety, students are asked to take a piece of paper and write about something they value and why it matters to them. This tip showed significant improvement in test results.
Tip #3: [Relax] — Breathing and relaxing before an exam are also very important to do before writing an exam and something we often forget to do. By focusing on breathing, tension is released and anxiety is thus reduced.
Although these tips may be quite beneficial to students at all levels of the education system, not many teachers teach these coping methods, and not many students practice them. So it still begs the question as to why there is still so much testing in the school system if it causes so much anxiety. If these tips aren’t being implemented, why can’t we come up with a better way to evaluate a child’s knowledge without putting them through test anxiety: because either way, when a child is anxious, the child will not perform to the best of his or her ability.
ID: 260532108
