COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
Controlling situational test anxiety
Expect a little anxiety. In an academic world addicted to tests and test scores, many students struggle with situational anxiety. It hits when they’re taking or about to take a test. Sure, it would be great not to feel nervous at all, but how realistic is that? If you begin to feel a little nervous, don’t be surprised by it. Understand that it’s normal. Don’t focus on it. Have confidence in your test taking skills. Make a preemptive strike on situational anxiety by reminding yourself of your awesome test-taking skills . You know how to read a test question for action and key words. You know how to allocate your time on a test. You can brainstorm and activate your schema. You have essay and short answer skills, and if you run into trouble on a multiple choice test, you know strategies to help you select the correct answer. Remember: you’re a lean mean, test-taking machine! Relax and breathe. If you feel anxiety creeping up on you during a test, tell it “no” and push it away with your mind. Take slow, deep breaths. Relax your shoulders and neck – that’s where muscle tension often builds. Don’t think about it or give into the feeling. Visualize yourself doing well on the test. Assess the threat. Anxiety is the body’s reaction to a perceived threat. It starts pumping out adrenaline to charge up the muscles to either fight, or get the heck outta there! Ask yourself What danger am I in here? What will really happen to me if I don’t do well on this test? Is this a life-threatening situation? Aren’t I overreacting a little? It helps to remind yourself that, while failing a test is an inconvenience, and has obvious negative consequences, it won’t actually kill you. PRODUCT PREVIEW Ignore students who finish ahead of you. A test is not a race. There’s no reward for finishing first and there’s no penalty for finishing last. Take your time. Focus on doing your best. The fact that other students finish before or after you has no significance. Don’t read anything into it.
Get your zzzzzz’s! Shakespeare nailed it when he wrote “sleep knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care.” It’s important to get enough sleep the night before a test. Too little sleep can leave you edgy and irritated, adding to the adrenaline dump and making you feel more anxious. Sacrificing sleep to stay up late to study for a test is a gamble. You may think you’re learning, but you could actually be sabotaging your test performance. Try to get a good sleep the night before a test. When you wake up, spend a few minutes thinking about what you studied and recalling information.
Sacrificing sleep to study is a gamble.
Chapter 23 | Taming Test Anxiety 210
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software