Beating Test Anxiety with One Simple Step

June 07, 2019 0 Comments

When you sit down to take a test, have you ever had a sinking feeling in your stomach? Not because you didn’t eat, or ate too much before, but because there’s that something in your conscious that reminds you that you aren’t going to test well?

You remember all of the hard work you’ve put in to feel confident up until the moment you sit for the test. The late-night studying and practice questions you completed. The flashcards you drilled and the practice tests you did several times over just to make sure. You feel there wasn’t a single thing more you could have done to prepare and just last night you felt confident you knew all of the material inside and out. You may even be so bold as to say that you could take the test with your eyes closed.

And yet…

For some reason when you walk into the test center and begin setting up your desk, a rain cloud starts to cast over you. And the moment comes when the test is being handed to you, so it begins to pour.

Or maybe this doesn’t sound like you at all. Instead you feel READY. You feel so confident, it’s like you drank five cups of coffee and absolutely nothing could stop you from doing well. You are bouncing out of your seat, READY. So when the test comes, you are still bouncing out of your seat to the point you can’t even focus. You know that you can answer every question, but only if your body would slow down so that you could actually do it.

If this sounds like a situation you have been in, you are likely experiencing test anxiety. And you are not alone. Test anxiety comes in various forms, but no matter the level of anxiety a student or test taker may feel, it’s important to know that it is more common than you might think. It’s even more important to know that it’s okay, and most important to know that there are simple solutions to dealing with and even conquering it.

So what can you do to deal with it?

Well, before dealing with your anxiety, it is important to understand it. As we have mentioned already, anxiety comes in various forms. But what defines anxiety is the *cognitive response marked by self-doubt, feelings of inadequacy, and self-blame. Simply put, you’re worried about your test, but that worry is making you unable to perform to the best of your capabilities. The anxiety can be explained with these identified markers, but you should also recognize that these markers do not always mean you have an anxiety disorder. The markers can cause anxious feelings, but it’s the varying degrees that a person feels them that will classify a student with diagnosable testing anxiety.

If you have any questions, concerns, or beliefs that your anxious feelings could be something more than general test anxiety, it would be important for you to discuss that with your doctor.

Otherwise, if you are simply trying to conquer the worry that triggers those feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy, you should work to relieve the short-term stressors are affecting you during your test. There are many generalized tips which to reducing your stress that can be found in our article Preparing and Studying for an Entrance Exam. And while there are numbers of tricks and hacks to try and deal with test anxiety, there is one way that encompasses all of the best tips:

Simulate Your Test.

The best way to beat test anxiety is to familiarize yourself with the testing atmosphere. By simulating the testing environment, students are bound to reduce the negative response that is triggered by taking a test. And by reducing the feelings of such test-taking stress, there will be a direct increase of testing ability. The results? A likely increase in testing scores.

In order to best simulate your test, you will need to determine the main factors about the test taking environment. What format will the test appear? Is it a computer-based test or paper-pencil format? What types of questions will you see in which subjects? Are they all multiple-choice or are there alternative test questions, such as grid-ins or an essay? And how long do you have to complete each section of the test? By determining the answer to each of these questions, you can find forms of practice exams that keep these factors as consistent as possible.

When you have access to your practice exams, you’ll want to use them properly. Don’t waste an exam for practice questions just to “look” at them. Smart Edition recommends creating a study schedule and sticking to it. And when it finally comes to the moment to simulate your exam, sit down and really take the exam. Go to a desk or similar, isolated test taking area to self-administer your exam. Turn off your cell phone and only have the materials on-hand that you are allowed to during your test. Avoid couches or comfy chairs, areas with televisions, or high-traffic fluxes of people. Remember that these factors won’t be in your testing environment, so even if you don’t consider them distractions, you want to mimic the test environment as best as you possibly can. And at the very least, don’t forget to time your testing segments to keep track of your timely performance if you do not implement the strict time limit itself.

It is important to note that many tests offer computer-based testing and paper-pencil format. Test takers may be bound to one form over the other, unless pre-existing conditions exist. If special circumstances apply to you and your test, you’ll need to provide official documentation and set-up a test taking appointment for the specific accommodation. It is up to you to determine what documents are necessary and check with test coordinators or administrators about the nature of your exam.

Regardless of the format, practice test questions will be the foundation of familiarizing yourself with your exam. Even if you are going to take a computer-based test, learning, studying, and practicing with paper-and-pencil are statistically shown to help boost test scores. By writing down information, students and learners are more likely to retain the information. And while a test-taker should know what will happen while taking a computer-based-test, paper-and-pencil studying will never be out of style.

You’ve Taken Your Practice Tests and Have Shown No Progress. Now What?

Stay positive and rethink your strategy!

If your scores aren’t improving, it may not be related to test taking stress and anxiety. You’ve recreated your stressful environment to work towards normalizing your response within and to it. This is the strategy you’ve developed to overcome the internal worries you may have. Stress and anxiety act as a barrier to your best performance abilities. But if you’re realizing that you’ve simulated the exam several times and see no change in your practice scores, you may need to revisit your understanding and knowledge of the material itself.

Similar to practice questions, any practice with a testing environment is going to help reduce your anxious feelings for it. The barrier to your performance ability is coming down. But now that your bodily response is being normalized so that you can function properly, you need to have the knowledge base to fall back on. If you think about an army general storming a kingdom, the general can use all of his force to break down the walls and infiltrate the palace. But once that wall is down, the general is still going to lose the battle if he stands alone against the palace army.

To help make sure that you do not become victim to your test, revisit your study materials and then go through a test simulation again. The key is to keep practicing, but efficiently! To ensure that you’re being the most efficient studier you can be, subscribe to our newsletter or check out our related articles below.

Beating Test Anxiety with One Simple Step

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