Pick an answer and stick with it—we all have the and move on. If you feel like the test was unfair and
tendency to second-guess ourselves and it can didn’t give you a chance to show your knowledge, you
lead to wasted time and wrong answers. can advocate with the teacher later.
Break things up: When you start to feel panicked,
Accommodations. Some kids who really
look for a way to change the focus. For example, struggle with test anxiety may also be eligible for
Dr. Cruger says that if he sees a question that really accommodations during test time. For example,
throws him off during a test—the kind of question some kids might need to get up and take a break
that makes him think, “Is this written in English?!”—he during a test if they are really starting to panic and
will sometimes turn to the last page and answer the need to calm themselves down. Sometimes kids get
last question first. “Somehow breaking up the routine more time because they aren’t working at an optimal
seems to be helpful for getting things done,” he says. speed because they’re experiencing low grade panic
“Other people have told me they do this, too.” throughout the test. Kids may even be eligible for a
Practice calming techniques: Sometimes kids like
to bring things like worry stones into tests that they can
use almost like a stress ball. Practicing deep breathing
and using mindfulness techniques can also be effective.
Accept when you don’t know something.
modified version of the test.
Finding success
Sometimes it can be hard to convince kids to start using
new study or test-taking strategies. “You always need
to sort of sell kids on the idea of trying something
Sometimes the best way to manage your anxiety is to different,” warns Dr. Cruger. This can be frustrating for
accept that you don’t know the answer to a question parents and teachers, who only want to help, but Dr.
Cruger points out that “Kids are being asked to learn
lots and lots of stuff from very well intentioned adults
all the time.”
If they don’t understand the rationale behind a new
study method, they probably aren’t going to adopt it,
so parents and professionals working with kids should
be explicit about how a new technique might be
helpful.
But when kids start feeling like they’ve studied well
and they know the material and they have strategies
to fall back on if they need them, their attitudes going
into a test will transform. And having the right attitude
is important. “I think the best test-taking mindset is
something along the lines of ‘I’m a monster, I’m going
to kill this test. There’s no way I can be fooled or do
badly,’” says Dr. Cruger.
12 | V O L U S I A parent M A G A Z I N E