Managing Test Anxiety
Tests are stressful for everyone, but they are also helpful for students, teachers, and the general education process. Tests can be the best way to see how much students know and what they can do. Ideally, you want to walk into a test ready to calmly and confidently show what you know.
Before:
Think about recent tests and quizzes. What kinds of questions do you tend to see? What have you done well on? What have you struggled with? Are there specific types of questions that tend to trip you up the most? Are you expected to memorize definitions? Will you need to apply knowledge to new types of questions?
Look at resources related to the test. Do you know all the definitions? Do you know how to do all the problems you’ve done in class recently? Could you do a different type of question related to the same material?
Review skills. Do you have a study guide with practice questions? If not, redo questions on recent worksheets and homework assignments. Take a look at questions in the textbook chapter.
Get a good night’s sleep and eat a good breakfast, if you can. If you struggle to sleep before tests, don’t worry too much about it. If you’ve slept well for the previous nights, you’ll be fine even if you get one crappy night of sleep.
During
Be confident. You’ve prepared for this.
If you get stuck on a question, skip it and come back to it. It happens and it doesn’t mean your grade is ruined. Take a deep breath and don’t let it bother you.
Keep in mind how much time you have and how many question you have to do.
If you notice your mind wandering, take a mental break and refocus. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and reread the question.
If you are running short on time, skim through the remaining questions and attack the ones you know you can do. If you have to completely skip a question, it should be one you wouldn’t get full credit for anyway.
After
There’s nothing you can do about it now. Don’t worry about it. Jump into the next unit and revisit this page before your next text.