Lecture #9:
Test anxiety & exam readiness
by Darcy A. Santor
Feeling anxious about tests and exams is normal, especially when there is a lot on the line. However, 40% of students report experiencing moderate to severe test anxiety at some point during their studies, which can undermine their performance. Unfortunately, 20.5% of students said that they would not approach their professors about their test anxiety because they believed that their instructors would be unable or unwilling to help them.
In this lecture, you will learn how to deal with test anxiety, as well as how to prepare for and write tests and exams. This includes learning how to prepare for tests in the days and weeks before the tests, as well as what to do the night before, the day of your exam, and even in the days afterwards.
Test anxiety is one of the top five predictors of performance at school and it is one of the easier problems to fix. In this lecture, you will also learn how to structure your answers for both short and long-answer questions and the most common mistakes that students make.
Research has shown that test anxiety can affect your grades by as much as half a grade point, which can be the difference between a B+ and an A-. But test anxiety is not just about tests and schools, it happens every time it feels like your performance, what you think and even who you are is on the line. The skills needed to tackle test anxiety are the same set of skills you will need on the job throughout your entire career. Learning how to successfully deal with test anxiety may be one of the most important goals you work to address and masted in your first year.
