Overcoming Test Anxiety

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Many students suffer from anxiety when they have to prepare for and write tests and exams. Some get nervous because they are ill-prepared, while others get bogged down in stress regardless of how well-prepared they may be. When students are anxious, they are unhappy and their stress can negatively impact their ability to prepare for a test and their performance on the day. You can help your students to overcome their exam anxiety for a happier, healthier learning experience.

Symptoms of test anxiety

Anxiety may be accompanied by physical symptoms like head and stomach aches, nausea, fatigue, sleeplessness, loss of appetite and vomiting. There can emotional symptoms too like irritability, anger and fear. When students have to operate under this kind of duress for extended periods, they lose focus.

Anxiety can inhibit their ability to concentrate and affect their memory. Higher cognitive functioning also suffers, making it harder for them to solve problems and comprehend complex data. Anxiety also impacts their ability to sleep and reduces appetite. Not getting enough rest or healthy nutrition affects memory and overall academic performance.

Stress busters

Start from the very beginning by setting realistic academic goals for your students. Help them to get organized by scheduling sufficient study time to prepare adequately for upcoming exams. Don’t do all the organization for them, rather teach them how to record all their upcoming papers and tests and how to organize their time.

Ascertain whether their anxiety stems from a genuine feeling of being overwhelmed. Are they struggling with a subject? If they just aren’t coping, help them to catch up and keep up by getting them an in-home tutor. One-on-one tutors can discover the missing building blocks in your student’s knowledge and skill set and can remedy this so that your student has a solid academic foundation to build on.

Tutors are also able to teach study skills and time management while showing your student how to organize information in a way that suits their learning style. They can help them to build confidence and provide the skills your student needs to work independently.

Happy thoughts

A positive attitude and confidence are two of the most vital arrows in your student’s academic quiver. If they have an inner dialogue that says they are dumb, just can’t do it or that they are bad at math or science, then that has to change.

Help them to recognize these negative thought patterns and to catch themselves when they fall into bad attitude traps. When they have a negative thought, they need to stop, take a deep breath and replace it with a positive one. You can help by focusing on positive reinforcement when they are on the right track.

Sweet dreams and healthy meals

Getting enough sleep is essential to a stellar academic performance. Ensure that your student doesn’t stay up too late studying, limit sugar intake and make sure they get enough sleep.

While most students like to live on sugar and junk food while they hit the books, opt for healthy, nutritious meals. The brain only takes up 2% of your body mass, but it uses 20% of the energy. So give your rocket the right fuel to function.

For More Information

Family Education Network: www.familyeducation.com/article/0,1120,66-2127,00.html

The American Institute of Stress: www.stress.org

Understanding Learning Styles

Your learning style is the way you acquire information. Students learn faster and retain more when information is presented to them in their learning styles of choice. Most people have a dominant learning style, but they can still learn when information is presented in another learning style. Teachers should present information in ways that appeal to all learning styles, but they may not always have the time to do so. When you know what your student’s learning style is, you can tailor information so that they can understand and process it better.

The Seven Learning Styles

Verbal (linguistic): Verbal students prefer using words to communicate, both in speech and writing. They like to read and take notes.

Physical (kinesthetic): These students prefer using their body, hands and sense of touch. They enjoy learning that is action-based like science experiments, making projects and working with their hands.

Visual (spatial): Spacially-oriented students prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding. They work well when information is presented in graphs, pie charts, infographics, pictures or video.

Aural (auditory-musical): These students prefer using sound and music. They like listening to lectures or talks.

Solitary (intrapersonal): These are independent learners who prefer to work alone and use self-study.

Logical (mathematical): These students prefer using logic, reasoning and systems. They are great with math and science.

Social (interpersonal): Social students prefer to learn in groups or with other people. They love organizing study groups and collaborative projects.

Consult your Teachers and Tutors

Ask your teacher or tutor to help to determine your student’s dominant learning styles. Most students use a combination of styles to assimilate information. While they will have a dominant style, it’s important to remember that styles are dynamic. That means that with practice, your student can adjust to any style of learning.

Once you know what your student’s preferred learning style is, you can teach them to arrange material to suit their style. For example, if your student prefers a visual learning style, organize information that they need to understand into graphs, infographics, mind maps and pictures. Let them watch videos on the subject and allow them to create videos and visually-oriented presentations for their projects. Presenting information in their learning style will help them to understand and remember.

Your tutor can help to teach your students how to arrange information into a more favorable format and how to tailor study skills to suit different subjects. Ask your tutor to give a brief test to determine learning style preferences.

Here are some resources for finding out your learning style online. Most of these resources are short tests which help you to see which learning style suits your student best. Do two or three to get a better idea of the learning styles that your student prefers:

NC State University

Vark

How to Learn

Education Planner

LDPride

Edutopia

Accelerated Learning
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