Since my future career goal is to become a school counselor I thought it might be appropriate to post some tips to combat test anxiety. I personally struggle with Test Anxiety and have tried all of these techniques on myself with mixed levels of effectiveness.
- According to Myron Dembo and Helena Seli, a lot of stress and anxiety stems from negative self-talk particularly from catastrophizing the impact of failing the test and engaging in “shoulds”. Instead of expecting disaster when going in for an examination try to be more optimistic with the outcome of tests and college. Also don’t always demand perfection from yourself. Engage in positive self-talk. Understand that mistakes and setbacks are okay and a part of life. When I tried this and actually believed what I was telling myself it alleviated a lot of the pressure I had put on myself to succeed and I was less nervous taking exams as a result.
- There has been research on the effectiveness of expressive writing to combat test anxiety. Gerado Ramirez and Sian Beilock found that after math-anxious people expressed their feelings of anxiety right before taking the exam they were less nervous during the exam and performed better. Expressive writing is a method that encourages people to write about their thoughts and feelings concerning a significant stressor they are facing. I tried this 10 minutes before taking an exam. I wrote on a sheet of paper my feelings towards the test and why I was nervous. I personally did not like this technique. I would have preferred to have been looking over my notes for those 10 minutes and not doing so gave me more anxiety.
- Test preparation with a supportive friend can help one manage test anxiety. According to Irwin Sarason this strategy helps to reduce self-preoccupation. I enjoyed this strategy however be warned that you will need to allocate more study time than you normally would because studying with someone else can easily cause distractions!
- Three psychologists from the Netherlands found that skimming the questions on a test before answering any of them can alleviate test anxiety. Skimming the test also helps you to access the information you have studied that has been stored away in your memory. I really liked this strategy because after I looked through the test I was able to see that I knew the information that was being tested and that helped me to calm down.
I encourage anyone that struggles with test anxiety to try these strategies out. Everyone is different so what didn’t work well for me may work well for you and vice-versa. No matter what though the best way to not be nervous and stressed during a test is to prepare yourself well and study!
