Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

Feb 17, 2007

Wonders of the Orient – A Jastine (Kun) Leng Column

Test Anxiety: Friend or Foe?

Jastine Leung

My hands are sweating, my face is breaking out, my heart is pounding, and my temper is short. Am I having a heart attack? Am I having a nervous breakdown? No! Final exams are coming up and I am experiencing test anxiety.

   Is test anxiety destructive? Can we make test anxiety work for us? The answer to both of these questions is yes. Test anxiety often interferes with students’ performance but this same test anxiety, if channeled correctly, can help improve performance.

   The good side of test anxiety is that it causes us to attend to the problem. It motivates us to want to study and prepare for the exam. Without this catalyst we might never be concerned about preparing for a test. Thus, a little anxiousness should not worry you. Those of us who speak publicly know that a few butterflies in the stomach just prior to a speech means that we will probably do a good job, that we will focus on our speech and block out extraneous material.

   However, when stress interferes with your ability to concentrate, then it has reached the destructive state. In order to lessen the destructive elements of test anxiety, the approach should be to develop improved CONFIDENCE and KNOWLEDGE. These two factors go hand in hand. As your knowledge of the course material increases, your confidence in your ability to succeed will increase. As your confidence increases, your anxiety till go down, allowing your knowledge to come through more efficiently. The way you prepare for a test can reduce anxiety during the test. Some specific recommendations for reducing test anxiety by improving preparation follow.

   KNOWLEDGE. You will be surprised how confident you will feel if you KNOW THE MATERIAL. Studies of memory show that recommendation is acquired by repetition. Thus, if you want to be able to recall information from text or lecture you have to review that material several times. Each person is different. Some people can acquire a body of information in two readings, while others might need as many as ten readings. It is important to know your own abilities and operate accordingly. If you know that you learn best by listening, prepare a tape of significant material and listen to the tape.

   SELF TEST. As you study, stop every once in a while and ask yourself, what did I just learn? Do this formally. Actually take a test that you write. Turn the chapter headings into questions and see if you can answer those questions. Study partners or study groups are often useful for self testing. Experience in stressful situations tends to lessen anxiety in those situations.

   CODES. How many times have you had the experience where, as you walk down the hall after the test, or are driving home after the test, an answer to a question popped up that would not come to you during the test? This is an example of a retrieval problem. It was there all long but you could not find it. Anxiety can do this to you. One way to help yourself retrieve material is through the use of MNEMONIC CODES. Learn a code that lets your remember complex material. Many of your know the number of days in the months using a code, or the lines and spaces on a music scale or the planets using codes. Developing an outline for an essay question that you know will be on the test or memorizing a formula are forms of code development.

   INSTRUCTOR HINTS. Students are often frustrated by the sheer volume of material that has to be studied at school. Many instructors conduct reviews, give hints, identify what is important to stuffy, use handouts or overhead transparency outlines. These materials should be at the top of your study list. If the instructor took the time to identify them, you should assume that they will play an important part of the test.

While knowledge acquired during test preparation can help reduce anxiety, it is another thing to take the test itself. Following are a few suggestions to help reduce anxiety during a test.

RELAX. When I arrive at a test I often find students flipping text pages at the last minute trying to cram in all it at the end. You would be better off trying to relax, meditating a little, and clearing your mind to allow yourself the ability to concentrate on the questions that are coming.

DUMPING. As soon as the instructor gives you the signal to start, dump out formulas, codes, outlines from your memory onto the test answer sheets so that you will not have to worry about whether you will remember the codes long enough until you get to the appropriate test question.

EASY QUESTIONS FIRST. I hate to admit it, but I flunked a test one time because I got stuck on an early question and it upset me so much that I never got around to answering later questions that I knew well. You can build your confidence if you go through the test and answer all of the questions that you know first. Go back and work on those questions that need greater analysis, or that need o be worked out or need to be guessed at. Thus you will get credit for answering all of the questions that you know and you anxiety will not kick in until later in the test.

EXTREME ANXIETY. For those of you whose anxiety increases as study and preparation increase, your goal should be to stop preparing once material has been learned and start concentrating on things that take your mind off the test, for example, television, books, hobbies, movies, etc. meditation and aerobic exercise have proven to be very useful methods for reducing undesirable effects of stress.

The solution to most problems starts with a plan. The same is true for reducing the destructive influences of stress. Plan to study. Map out a schedule of when you will study each day. Identify the specific topics that you will study each day. Identify the areas of the material that you have had problems with and study those. Your plan should include reading the text material, reviewing notes, reviewing homework assignments, identifying material that needs further explanation, developing codes for memory material and testing yourself. Once you have studied adequately, your confidence will be fairly high, you knowledge will be satisfactory to do well on the test and the stomach butterflies will help you focus on the task at hand.

Wish you good luck on exams!

 Jastine Leung

ghoul_pink_fantasy@yahoo.com