How to Help Your Child Overcome Test Anxiety: 5 Strategies

Posted October 31, 2019

Author: Dr. Jared Spencer

In today’s school environment, tests have become a prominent part of the academic experience. Between state exams, college entrance exams, and general curriculum exams, children are frequently asked to demonstrate their academic skills. This contributes to the immense amount of pressure that many students face in school, leading to overwhelming feelings of anxiety for some children and adolescents. Even younger children who are just beginning to take tests can feel very overwhelmed due to the increasing presence of tests and assessments at the elementary school level.

What is Test Anxiety?

Test anxiety is a type of performance anxiety, and can appear in many forms. Emotionally, children may feel nervous and/or insecure in anticipation of an upcoming test, and may also feel self-doubt about their own ability to achieve. Test anxiety can also appear physically in the form of stomach aches, headaches and nausea. While feeling a little bit of stress is often beneficial in improving performance (see: Yerkes-Dodson Law), it can be tricky for some kids to manage these feelings, and they can quickly become overwhelming.

Here are some strategies for helping your child overcome their test anxiety:

1. Communicate

Talking with your child about their own test anxiety can help them understand what aspects of test-taking make them most anxious. This is a great starting point for you and your child to begin figuring out strategies to manage test anxiety based on what they feel most anxious about.

2. Validate Feelings around Test Anxiety

It is important not to minimize or downplay the anxiety that some kids may feel about taking tests. Showing your child that you understand and can empathize with what they are feeling can help reduce anxious thoughts and feelings.

3. Help Manage Negative Thoughts and Build Positive Regard

Increased anxiety around taking tests can often lead to and/or arise from negative thoughts about one’s own abilities. It is important to help children and adolescents build self-confidence around their own performance in order to help reduce the negative thoughts that are often associated with test anxiety.

4. Get Some Sleep!

It is always important for children/teens to get a good night’s sleep, especially when they have a test the following day. Lack of sleep can lead to increased levels of anxiety and can impact those cognitive skills essential for test taking. A good night’s sleep has a much greater likelihood of decreasing anxiety and making a positive impact than pulling an all-nighter cramming for a test.

5. Begin Building a “Growth” Mindset

Sometimes, children may view tests as a measure of their self-worth, further contributing to the amount of pressure they feel to succeed. It is important to remind them that tests are just a snapshot of who we are in a particular moment in time, and that there is always time to grow and learn more in the future. This can help kids re-frame their perspective what tests mean for them and help reduce some of the pressure surrounding individual tests.

Test anxiety can be a tough hurdle for some kids, but providing support and validation can help them build the self-confidence they need to overcome it. If you would like extended support, please check out our Therapy Services and Parent Consultation Services.