By Rachel Daugherty
Test anxiety, according to Mayo Clinic, is feelings of worry and self-doubt that can interfere with your test-taking performance and can often make you feel miserable. Test anxiety is something that is often overlooked and ignored in many students in schools across the country. This is an issue that people may not be well informed about, but it is an issue that some people have to deal with every time they take a test.
“I feel overwhelmed when preparing for a test, and constantly feel sick. Other times I feel eerily calm, and it’s like I’ve already given up and accepted defeat.” Zoey Clement, a freshman nursing major at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, said.
This is how some students feel every time they have to study for a test, and some students don’t know how to properly deal with it. A way to cope starts with finding the source of the issue that may be causing the anxiety.
In a paper by Christopher Orpen titled “The interactive effects of social support and test anxiety on student academic performance,” Orpen addresses how much academic confidence can affect a student’s performance. He writes about how that can be a big influence on how much test anxiety a student can have when preparing for a test. Orpen goes on to say that test anxiety is not just caused by academic ability and knowledge, because sometimes a student can have all those things and still suffer from anxiety.
Another common cause of test anxiety is bad studying habits. This can also be linked back to academic confidence, because bad study habits can lead to less confidence. Bruce Dykeman conducted a study titled “A multivariate analysis of study skills, test anxiety and locus of control in first-time university students.” Dykeman found that better studying habits were linked to lower test anxiety levels. Dykeman concluded that if a student is able to develop good studying habits, then they are able to combat their own test anxiety.
Kara Pond, a sophomore in computer science at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, has had to maintain a good studying plan before she takes a test.
“I study a lot,” Pond said, “Sometimes that means I have to cancel plans, but it helps me to feel better about the test I’m going to take.”
Pond said she will spend hours studying, only taking short breaks when she needs to, because she has developed a studying habit that works for her. This is one way that students are able to combat their test anxiety, and it has proved to be effective.
“…If someone is experiencing test anxiety… I encourage them to accept that experience of anxiety.” Brooke Bordic, a clinical mental health counseling intern at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, said. “It sounds strange and almost counterintuitive, but if we accept that we experience anxiety, we begin to gain control of it instead of always fearing what is happening to us.”
Bordic has helped a number of students with test anxiety through the counseling center, and has been able to gain some experience in dealing with it. She has found that accepting the anxiety is something that people have found helpful during her time as an intern.
There are many ways to help combat against test anxiety, but people tend to brush it off because they do not think it is an issue. However, in a world ever growing with anxiety, it is becoming a bigger issue now more than ever. Developing those study habits and accepting the anxiety can help to decrease the issue of test anxiety in everyone. Hopefully people can have a better understanding of what test anxiety is, and some of the ways to help cope with that anxiety.
