Reducing Test Anxiety

Thank you all for your active input in compiling this list!

1.       Tips for academic mentors:

o   Ask what students think will be on the exam, and ask to explain these concepts in their own words;

o   Make worksheets for students while students make a worksheet for academic mentor. Switch papers, fill them out, and go over together;

o   Make a study plan with students that gives them a chance to learn the way they do best: organizing material? Teaching material? Working through it orally?

o   Incorporate past exam questions in sessions through semester, student will become comfortable with style; 

2.       Tips for students:

A) Preparing for the test:

o   If the professor posts old exams, print those off and simulate real testing conditions. Go to the exam room if possible, sit down for 50 minutes and take that test;

o   If you study confidently, you test confidently;

o   Study a lot - be over-prepared for the exam;

o   Start studying early to eliminate last minute cramming; use these exam countdown forms;

o   Create a realistic schedule for studying;

B) A day before the test:

o   Make sure to have finished studying at least a day before the exam;

o   Midterms: don’t study the day off, finals: don’t study the night before;

o   Get a good night’s sleep;

o   Realize that anxiety will lead to worse grade. So try to relax  by listening to music, play sports, talk with professors/friends;

C) Right before the test:

o   Listen to music and relax before a test, don’t study up until the moment before;

o   Take a walk;

o   Recall all the tests you got through in the past (high school or college) and any challenge (application to college, taking the ACT, interviews). If you realize all the other stressful situation you made through, one exam might seem less intimidating, you just need to take one step at a time;

o   Tell yourself that since you have been working hard so far, if the test doesn’t go well, you shouldn’t feel sorry;

D) During the test:

o   Find a “security blanket” and bring it with you every time you have an exam. I always have a bottle of Diet Coke with me when I sit down for an exam. It makes for a natural break during a tense exam;

o   Sit at the corner, so that you won’t be disturbed by others who finish early;

o   Try not to look at the test as something to prove to other but yourself;

o   Be confident.

Another very useful strategy that was suggested by Lead Academic Mentor Libbi Fletcher is writing about your anxieties right before the test. This has proven to reduce text anxiety and improve test performance in college students! More on the topic: http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2011/01/13/writing-about-worries-eases-anxiety-and-improves-test-performance

Learned Helplessness

In your orientations, we mentioned the notion of “learned helplessness.” Seligman (1998) defines the latter as follows: “Learned helplessness is the giving-up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn’t matter. Explanatory style is the manner in which you habitually explain to yourself why bad or good events happen. It is the great modulator of learned helplessness. An optimistic explanatory style stops helplessness, whereas a pessimistic explanatory style spreads helplessness. Your way of explaining events to yourself determines how helpless you can become, or how energized, when you encounter the everyday setbacks as well as momentous defeats” (p.15).

How is the learned helplessness related to how long students remain engaged in the course? Observe how they explain course setbacks or achievements. Do they explain their bad grades as “permanent, pervasive, and personal?” How about the good grades? Interestingly, the optimistic explanatory style assumes that you explain your failures as temporary, local, and impersonal, whereas successes - as permanent, pervasive, and personal.

On the other hand, can continuously relying on other sources of support promote learned helplessness? Observe how much your students are reliant on you for answers, and “rate” their “helplessness” patterns. As the semester progresses, work on breaking these patterns.

Breaking learned helplessness & developing the optimistic explanatory style go hand in hand with the growth mindset – viewing successes as products of effort vs. ability. Learning that responding matters prevents learned helplessness. In Seligman’s study, dogs that were taught this mastery as puppies were immunized to learned helplessness all their lives. Individuals taught that what you do matters can change their success patterns. 

More on the topic: Seligman M. (1998) Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life.