It’s here again, that time of the school year when we face those high-stakes cumulative assessments. We want our students to do their best, so we spend time helping them to review, refresh, and renew what they have learned. We might have students engage in self-assessments, review portfolios, make flashcards, create mind maps, or tap other strategies they find helpful. More formally, we can even share test-taking strategies and have students take practice tests.
Despite our instructional preparation, though, students’ mental and emotional states can have as much impact on their test performance as the academic knowledge and skills they possess. The truth is that when students feel anxious or overwhelmed with stress and as such are unable to focus, they may not perform at a level that reflects what they actually know and can do.
Fortunately, there are several tools we can share with students to help them monitor and control much of the stress and anxiety they may experience. Here are seven tried-and-true strategies students are likely to find helpful.
Alleviate anxiety. When anxiety grows, students can experience a fight-flight-freeze response. They may become so preoccupied that thinking becomes almost impossible. One of the simplest and most effective ways to counter anxiety is deep breathing. For example, we might coach students to inhale slowly for 4 seconds, exhale slowly for 6 seconds, and repeat for 30-60 seconds. As students slowly exhale, they are likely to find that their body and mind shift to a calmer state.
Reframe stress. Stress can have a positive or negative impact on performance. The impact of stress is heavily influenced by how it is viewed. Healthy levels of stress can sharpen focus, elevate awareness, and help memory retrieval. On the other hand, stress can lead to a freeze response in the brain, which makes it difficult or impossible for a person to think clearly and do the things they need to do. Yet, nervousness is just a signal that something important is about to happen. We can coach students to mentally reframe anxiety and stress as simple energy rather than risk or danger. They might think of stress as a signal that their mind and body are getting ready to perform.
Focus on controllables. We might remind students that despite not being able to predict or control the questions they will have to answer and tasks they will be expected to complete, there is much they can and do control: They control the effort they invest, the strategies they will rely on, and the areas on which to focus their attention as they prepare. While they may not know the outcome in advance, they can control the processes that will determine the outcome. Often, just gaining a sense of control is enough to instill confidence and reduce the stress of high-stakes testing.
Flush mistakes. Athletes are taught that when they make a mistake or something goes wrong, they need to immediately let go of what happened and focus on moving forward. Success is more likely to be determined by what students do following their mistakes than by the mistakes themselves. Everyone makes mistakes. The key is to recover quickly. We can coach students to accept what happened, refocus, and keep moving. The sooner students refocus, the better they will perform.
Challenge catastrophic thinking. High-stakes tests can trigger exaggerated fears, even among students who are likely to do well. They can worry that their life will be over if they do not do well, or that everyone else will do better and they will be embarrassed and look bad. Often, just having students consider the worst that can happen and what the most likely outcome is can help them be more realistic and regain perspective.
Practice visualization. Having students visualize the test and how they will engage can help them to rehearse success. Visualization can build confidence and push against anxiety. High-performing athletes and professionals regularly practice visualization to prepare for competition and manage stressful situations. As examples, we might have students visualize calmly opening the test, looking for questions to which they already know the answers, and working calmly and steadily through the test.
Create a plan. Having a plan for when students feel stuck can be a great way to help them avoid panicking and making the situation worse. For example, we might coach students to pause and take a breath, read the question again to see if any clues or ideas surface, mark the question so they can come back to it, and move on to the next question. Getting stuck may happen, but staying stuck is not inevitable.
Finally, we can assure students that no single test defines who they are or the potential they possess. A test may capture what students know about something on a particular day, but they are not determiners of the future. The future remains in the hands of students and what they choose to do with it.
