Helping Children and Teens Cope with Test or Exam Anxiety

Helping children and teens cope

with test or exam anxiety

Shu Wen's mother notices her daughter preparing very hard for the C.A.s (Cumulative Assessments), but the scores do not reflect this. Shu Wen tells her mother that during the C.A.s, her mind 'just blank out'.

Firdaus' father observes that his son gets stomach cramps a week before the school exams begin; however, for the rest of the year, Firdaus is able to manage his extracurricular activities in the National Cadet Corp (NCC) and Computer Club well.

While most of us get a little anxious before a test or exam, there are a growing number of young people like Shu Wen and Firdaus who experience serious test or exam anxiety. The symptoms of test or exam anxiety include those described above as well as poor sleep or appetite, feelings of dread or hopelessness, and headaches. These symptoms do interfere with the ability of children to perform their personal best. Equally worrying, is the attitude and perspective that these young individuals adopt. According to a recent survey on 1742 children from Upper Primary level schools in Singapore, (The Straits Times, November, 2000), 31% of them who were anxious about exams/tests and not performing well on them, also thought that life was not worth living.

Assessments, be they tests or exams are important. They measure basic skills. They can affect a year's grade. If they measure the ability to learn, they can affect a child's placement in school. So it's important for children and teenagers to do well on test. Further, test-taking abilities can serve them well beyond their childhood and adolescence. What can we do to help children and adolescents manage their test and exam anxieties better? Here are some tips that parents have found useful in helping their children cope with their anxieties in taking tests and exams.

1. Purpose of assessments - it is helpful for children to understand why schools give tests and exams, and to know the different kinds of assessments. This helps them to rationalise their fears and realise that assessments not only show their rates of progression, but also help schools to evaluate their courses and teaching techniques.

2. Listen with empathy - it does not help to tell children to relax, to think about something else, or stop worrying. Instead of dismissing their fears, try to understand that they are having difficulties coping with a source of stress and help them find ways to manage it a little better.

3. Conducive environment - create a quiet and comfortable place for your children to study. Provide books and magazines to read at home. By reading new materials, your children will learn new information that might appear on a test.

4. Pacing - effective learning occurs through studying that takes place over a period of time. Help your child to understand the information and relate it to existing knowledge.

5. Monitor your children's work - meet with your child's teacher as often as possible to discuss their progress. Ask the teacher for suggested activities that you can do with your children at home to help prepare for tests and improve their understanding of schoolwork.

6. Regular school attendance - ensure that your children attends school regularly, as the more effort and energy they put into learning, the more likely they will do well on test and exams.

7. Appropriate rest, diet and exercise - make sure that your children rest well and maintain a proper regime of diet and exercise. This will help to ensure that they can be attentive and cope with the demands of the test and exams. Avoid cramming the night before a test/exam as this can create anxiety, which interferes with clear thinking.

8. Teach test/exam skills - teach your children to read the directions on the test/exam carefully and to ask for explanations when they do not understand them. Remind your children not to get overly anxious when they encounter questions that are difficult and or they are unable to answer at first glance. Move on to another question but remember to mark them so that they can return to the unanswered problem at the end of the test/exam. Pacing themselves is also an important skill to remember too.

9. Reviewing test/exam results - after the test/exam, it is helpful to review the wrong answers with your children. Looking into their mistakes can help them to figure out where their difficulties lie - misunderstanding the way a question was worded or misinterpreting what was asked. Quite often, children know the correct answer but were unable to express it effectively. Check with them to ensure that their pacing during the exam/test was appropriate.

10. Reflecting on our values - placing so much emphasis on your children's assessment-scores not only causes undue distress in you but also creates anxieties in your children. Ultimately, we want to develop in our children a love for learning and we do this by praising positive efforts (with emphasis on the process and not on the end goal-scores), creating opportunities for successful experiences and recognising that mistakes are to be learned from, not forever regretted.

If you are concerned about the way your child or teenager copes with test or exam anxiety, contact us.