Overcoming Test Anxiety

A little bit of anxiety before exams is common and even helpful—it motivates you to study hard and try your best. Too much anxiety, however, can interfere with performance. Students with impairing test anxiety typically have inaccurate and unhelpful beliefs about themselves and the significance of exams. You may label yourself a “bad test taker,” or believe your performance on exams reflects your self-worth. Students will often overestimate the negative consequences of test taking and fall into a catastrophic thinking trap. For example, you might think, “if I miss a question on my biology test, I’ll never be a doctor” or “if I don’t improve my ACT score, I won’t be accepted to any colleges.”

Anxiety symptoms can interfere with performance—this is why we often see students who receive low scores on standardized tests after acing several practice tests. Poor test performance can reinforce inaccurate beliefs, which creates a vicious cycle. Fortunately, there are several ways to break this cycle to both reduce anxiety and improve performance.

OVERCOMING TEST ANXIETY

You can manage test anxiety by adjusting your thoughts on testing and addressing your physiological symptoms. Challenge yourself to think more rationally. This technique is called cognitive restructuring, and there are several questions you can practice asking yourself to lessen the intensity of negative thoughts, like:

1. What is the evidence for and against this thought?
2. If a friend were having this negative thought, what would I tell them?
3. If the worst-case scenario were to happen, would I be okay?

When we feel anxious, our bodies initiate a fight-or-flight response. This response is adaptive for humans—it keeps us safe when we are in danger. Sometimes, however, your fight-or-flight response turns on when you are not really in danger, like when you sit down for a tough math test. You can calm these physical symptoms of anxiety with relaxation techniques like paced breathing and progressive muscle relaxation before and during exams.

Paced Breathing

Inhale for a count of 2-4 seconds and exhale for a count of 4-6 seconds, making sure to exhale longer than you inhale. Focus your attention on your breath. Breathe in slowly through your nose, letting your chest expand. Breathe out slowly through your mouth. When your mind wanders, gently redirect your focus back to counting and breathing. You may try using a breathing app for additional structure, like Breathe Easy or Breath Ball.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Tense up muscle groups one at a time on an inhale, and then relax them on an exhale. Start at the top of your head and move through to your toes.

WHAT CAUSES TEST ANXIETY?

Although psychologists and physicians don’t fully understand the causes of anxiety, we do know that many factors contribute to anxiety including:

Lack of Sleep

Plenty of evidence has linked sleep disruption or a lack of sleep (e.g., insomnia) with increased anxiety. Lack of sleep reduces your brain’s ability to regulate your emotions, so you feel anxiety more intensely and it takes longer to settle down. If you are having trouble sleeping, try the following “sleep hygiene” tips:

• Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning, even on weekends.
• Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, relaxing, and at a comfortable temperature. Your bedroom should be used only for sleeping. That means no more homework in bed!
• Remove cell phones and laptops from your bedroom. The blue light in these devices sends the message to your brain that you should stay awake.
• Avoid large meals and caffeine before bedtime.
• Get some exercise during the day, but not too close to bedtime. An added bonus is that exercise has direct anxiety-reduction effects.

Sugar & Caffeine

Sugar and caffeine intake can worsen anxiety symptoms and impair your body’s ability to cope. Sugar can cause blurry vision, difficulty thinking, and fatigue, and a “sugar crash” can cause shaking and tension. All of these physiological sensations send messages to the brain that you are in danger, which can make anxiety worse. Likewise, the “jitters” caused by caffeine feel very similar to the fight-or-flight response and can worsen anxiety. Stick to herbal teas and healthy snacks to keep you going. 

SCHOOL ACCOMMODATIONS

If you suffer from test anxiety, consider speaking with your teachers, principal, or counselor about it. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), you have the right to request appropriate accommodations. These accommodations may require a diagnosis from a licensed professional, so you may want to consult a therapist or doctor to find out if you are eligible.

Here are some accommodations your school might be able to implement:

• Extended time on tests to ease the pressure.
• Testing in an alternate, quiet location.
• Regular appointments with a school counselor.
• Use of word banks and equation sheets to cue your memory if your anxiety leads you to “blank out” during testing.
• Oral presentations and examinations alone with the teacher rather than in front of the class.

Kellyann Morgan specializes in coaching middle, high school, and college-aged students in organizational and executive functioning skills. She holds a master’s degree in education from Columbia University and graduated summa cum laude from Denison University with a B.A. in Religion and played two years on the Varsity Basketball team. After serving as a teacher, coach, and dorm parent at St. Andrew’s Boarding School in Delaware and The Pennington School in New Jersey, Kel now works full-time with individual students to help them develop lifelong skills of time management, planning, organization, task initiation, and problem-solving. For each student, Kel takes a strengths-based approach and strives to see the whole picture of a student’s life as they strengthen the cognitive, emotional, and academic skills that will allow them to thrive for years to come.

Kel lives in Charleston, South Carolina and enjoys traveling, reading, basketball, yoga, pickleball, and the beach.

KEL’S FOUR TIPS FOR MANAGING TEST ANXIETY 

1. Prepare Early and Often
   • Study in regular intervals over several months so that you feel confident in your abilities to reach your goals for the test. It is important to be familiar with the format and content of the test so that you know exactly what to expect. Reach out to a teacher or tutor for study tips to make sure you are using your time efficiently.
2. Do a Test Run
   •  A week or so before a big test like the SAT, get your test materials ready, pack your bag, have the same breakfast that you’ll have on test day. If possible, physically go to the test location at the correct time so that you know exactly how long it will take you to get there, reducing worry over arriving late. 
3. Create Your Mantra
   • A mantra is a short phrase to say to yourself whenever you get nervous before, during, or after the test. Some sample mantras are I got this, This too shall pass, I’m stronger than I think, and One question at a time. Your mantra should be something that feels true to you and reminds you that you are capable of amazing things.
4. Work With an Executive Functioning Tutor
   • An executive functioning tutor can help you find strategies to feel more confident before, during, and after an exam. Preparing regularly with breaks between study sessions, having a plan for moving through challenging problems, and putting the exam into perspective can all help a student enter test day with a calm mind. As an EF coach, I work with each student to find a balance between efficient and effective preparation and overall well-being (sleep, nutrition, mindset) with the goal of increasingly being able to handle high stakes moments. These same skills can be applied to challenging college classes, meeting expectations at work, and moving through the ever-present obstacles of life.

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