What is Test Anxiety?
Test Anxiety is a type of performance anxiety that serves as a barrier to peak performance. This elevated anxiety can be quite difficult for students to manage, especially on standardized tests which play a significant role as it relates to college admission.
Test Anxiety has both a psychological (mind) and physiological (body) component.
Mental factors that trigger anxiety include:
- Self-doubt
- Excessive worry about results and consequences
- Fear of failure
- Not living up to others’ expectations (real or perceived)
- Putting pressure on self to achieve a desired score
- Comparing abilities with others
- Catastrophic thinking
(“no college will take me if I don’t hit a certain number”)
Physiological symptoms of anxiety include:
- Increased heart rate
- Accelerated breathing
- Sweaty palms
- Muscle tension
- Light-headedness
- Somatic distress
(feeling like you have to go to the bathroom)
When this anxiety or “activation” in the mind and body is not effectively managed, it leaves the student feeling out of control and makes it very difficult to retrieve information that is stored in long-term memory. And so the equation is quite simple: “High Test Anxiety” or “Moderately-High Test Anxiety” = underperforming on the SAT and ACT.