7 Ways to Help Your Middle School Child Conquer Test Anxiety

Test anxiety is a reality for students in middle school today. Some children get so anxious they literally freeze unable to make a choice on a test. Is your child one of these students?

As a parent you want to help your child succeed in school and life. Here are some ways you can work with your child to decrease their stress and test anxiety.

Let's start with the emotions first. Reinforce with your child that no one is perfect. No student will know all the answers to every test they take. The desire to be perfect can be a big part of test anxiety.

1. Let your child know some answers may make them wonder and even get stuck when searching for an answer. It's not a question of not studying. Remind them it's not their fault. When a child starts trying to be perfect it can lead to guilt or panic. This is within your child's control.

Teach them self-talk. Work with your child so they can tell themselves at the beginning of the test, "I've studied for the test the best way I can. I may not get all the answers right. But I can do my best." The self-talk goes a long way towards reinforcing a feeling of calm and control.

2. Have your child rephrase their emotions. Have them change test anxiety to test excitement. This isn't some psychological mumbo jumbo. Think of it this way. Lots of people enjoy roller coasters. During the ride their heart rate increases, they perspire, and their breathing rate increases. Other people are terrified when riding roller coasters. They have similar reactions. One reaction is perceived as terror: the other is fun. Coach your child to think of a test as a fun game. Choosing positive over negative can help change a mindset from fear over taking a test to excitement when taking the test.

3. Children don't have an accurate gauge of time. Lack of time management can play a big role in test anxiety. A child spends too much time on one question only to find time has run out. Their test is left incomplete. Set the stovetop timer to 3 minutes. Have your child close their eyes and tell you when 3 minutes is-without counting or peeking. Time awareness can be learned through practice. Doing timed short drills will give your child an awareness of how to pace themselves through a test.

4. Buy some bubble mark test sheets at a school supply store. Have your child practice filling in the bubbles. This sounds overly simple but some children are perfectionists. They spend valuable time completely filling in the bubble. This time adds up and could be spent answering the next question. Only have number 2 pencils with erasers at home. Other pencils are not recognized with test scoring machines. Pencils are not always provided for tests.

5. Have your child read the entire question. Too often children don't read the entire question and mark an answer without full information.

6. Teach your child to take their test using the process of elimination. Have them eliminate the obvious wrong answers first. Your child's internal talk says, "Hey, I recognized that." By using this strategy your child reinforces their confidence in their knowledge and skills. Eliminating possible answers makes decision making for the correct answer easier.

7. Coach your child to eliminate possible answers and then guess if stumped. Using elimination and guessing on multiple-choice tests can improve the score. The more answers you can eliminate the better your odds of guessing the correct answer. http://kvhs.nbed.nb.ca/gallant/biology/guessing_strategies.html

Standardized tests and other tests will be part of your child's life through all their school years. Learning to successfully deal with test anxiety early is a valuable skill for your child to have. As a parent you can coach your child with some test strategies. If these strategies do not work, discuss other alternatives with your child's teacher, or guidance counselor.