Big tests like the ACT and SAT can bring more than just academic challenges—they can pose emotional challenges as well. After all, exams for college admission are incredibly high-stakes, and many students may walk into these standardized tests with a mind full of doubts. “What if all of my friends score better than me?” “What if I’m not smart enough?” “What if I never get a good score?” When left unchecked, these self-defeating questions can fester and cause nerves on test day.
Anxiety around exams is far from a rare phenomenon. While each student will have their own journey in besting their test-day stress, here are some tips to get started.
Challenge Negative Assumptions about Testing
The best foundations for reducing text anxiety are laid weeks (and even months) before test day itself. Many students hold detrimental assumptions about standardized tests. Do any of these phrases sound familiar?
- “The test is trying to trick me.”
- “They want me to fail.”
- “No one can do this.”
- “This is impossible.”
Contrary to popular belief, a well-written standardized test is not trying to “trick” anyone. While a difficult question may come across as “tricky,” that is only because the test makers are very good at constructing questions that specifically test academic standards, usually through writing answer choices that are only subtly different from each other. If all questions were easy, the standardized test would not achieve its purpose of evaluating a student’s academic skills.
An Academic Approach tutor will work with a student to identify why assumptions like these are not reflective of the actual test. Eliminating these false statements and working with the test (instead of against it) is integral to having a positive test-day experience.
Prepare
Thorough preparation not only helps a student know the material it also helps a student feel more at ease with the test. Many Academic Approach students report feeling overwhelmed by their first practice test. This is natural. The more unfamiliar an experience is—whether that experience be a test or something else entirely—the more likely that experience is to evoke strong emotions.
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Combating this is simple; make the unfamiliar familiar. Academic Approach tutors achieve this through incorporating frequent practice tests in a tutoring regimen. Academic Approach tutors also know the importance of checking in with students about their emotional reaction to each practice test. Talking about what caused a student stress during a practice test works as a preventative measure in reducing anxiety on “the real deal.”
“Greet” Your Feelings
Even with the best preparation, it is typical to be nervous on test day. While a student’s first instinct may be to ignore or “push down” any negative emotions, failing to acknowledge emotions will only allow negative thoughts to run wild. Instead, a student should “greet” their emotions and legitimize them. “I am anxious because I am about to take a big test, and that is okay.”
Acknowledging test-day emotions also gives a student the opportunity to dispel any lingering false narratives. For example, the statement “I am not going to do well on this test” is counteracted with the simple truth that no one can know the future. Indeed, the assumption that “this test will go poorly because I am nervous” is countered by recognizing that the score of a standardized test does not incorporate how a person felt while taking it. No matter how anxious a student may be, the score is only the result of what answer choices were bubbled in.
While each student may have their own personal type of test-related stress, it is essential to recognize that test anxiety is normal. Once a student acknowledges this, they are on their way to reaching their full potential.
