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Overcoming test and exam anxiety

© Amanda Kendle

A common complaint about tests and exams is that they put so much pressure on students to perform that they fail to achieve to their true ability. For this reason, much of the education sector is increasingly using continuous assessment - that is, tasks completed outside of an exam room - as a major or complete component of a student’s mark.

Unfortunately for those who experience test anxiety, many still see an important place for supervised, time-limited tests and exams. In some courses, these are the only time that the teacher can be sure that it is in fact the student who has completed the assessment task - and not their mother, brother, flatmate or PhD candidate-neighbor. Other situations, such as statewide testing or entry exams, mean that practically speaking an exam is the only suitable method for dealing with a large number of candidates. It is likely that, despite innovations in testing methods, the sometimes frightening interior of examination halls is likely to remain a familiar site for students at some stage in their studying careers.

To overcome this fear, we firstly need to look at the main causes of test anxiety. The most obvious is, of course, the fear of failure. Particularly in high stakes exams, a student can feel that a poor performance may jeopardise their “whole life”. The other causes of test anxiety are generally linked to this: a fear of forgetting information they have studied the night before; the dread of seeing a question which has absolutely no meaning to them; and the silly but all-too-real horror of all their pens running out of ink or calculator batteries failing.

Some of the solutions lie in the way teachers construct exams and prepare their students. For example, there is nothing wrong with giving quite explicit information about the content of an exam, particularly if it is a well written test which will not assess simple fact-recall but will require students to engage with the content and apply it in new contexts. Such exams are often made “open book”, that is, students can take in textbooks and other notes, meaning that the anxiety of remembering a list of facts is forgotten and the emphasis falls on gaining a real understanding of the subject instead.

The remaining methods for overcoming test anxiety must come from the student perspective. Of course, the anxiety is not helped by the continued pressure society tends to place on students, but this is not an issue easily solved by students preparing for a test. Instead, a program of effective study, sensible rest and relaxation and above all, a practical mindset, are the requisites for a more stress-free approach to exams. The age-old advice of planning a study timetable in plenty of time before the exam helps alleviate the fear of “not knowing enough” when students enter an exam. Similarly, keeping a balance between study and R&R is equally important to ensure a good mental state at test time. And finally, the strongest message I can give to students is that despite all that it seems at the time, you should try to recognise and remember that an exam is never, ever, the be-all and end-all of your life. There are always other ways. If you can alleviate some of this pressure, the process of taking an exam will be less daunting, and most likely, your results will be even better!