Test Anxiety Causes and Cure

Stress Pressure to perform well (from self and/or others) Lack of adequate study time (work, family, too many courses) Fear of unknown or preconceived notions about test difficulty

From Stress to Anxiety Student begins to fear test before time to take it Fear reaches highest point at time to take the actual test

Within seconds ~ Muscles tense Blood pressure rises Stress hormones are released…

From Anxiety to Anguish Difficulty breathing Difficulty concentrating Mental “blank-out” How does this happen??

Logical brain BYPASS

It is impossible to think clearly so long as the amygdala is excited.

Is it hopeless? Thorough studying and careful preparation can help but will not necessarily prevent test anxiety A student may know the answers both before and after the test, but not while taking the test!

Is it hopeless? Even the best performers get stage fright – Test anxiety works by the same brain mechanisms

But there is a solution … Progressive relaxation can be performed While sitting at a desk In only two or three minutes time

Progressive Relaxation Feel your feet. Sense their weight. Consciously tense your toes. Tense hard and hold for a second. Relax them completely while taking a deep, slow breath. Then consciously tense and relax your whole foot in the same way, remembering to breathe deep and slow. You will work your way up your body with this same exercise of tense and relax. Concentrate, and try to tense and then relax only one part of the body at a time – toes but not foot, then foot but not leg, then legs but not abdomen and so on. When you get to your upper back and shoulders, try to tense and relax that area without tensing your stomach muscles or your neck. Take a few seconds for each step of this exercise, even though in the beginning this task will seem almost impossible. When you are finished with the progressive tension and relaxation, take another deep, slow breath and relax your entire body. Taking an extra few seconds to imagine that your body is very light - light enough to float - will finish off this total relaxation nicely.

Benefits NOW When experiencing test anxiety, this exercise: draws awareness to each area of the body adds oxygen to the brain and relaxes the muscles

Benefits NOW These three things combined: calm down the amygdala dispel stress hormones allow the brain to think clearly once again!

Benefits LATER If you continue to perform this exercise on a regular basis: You will learn to notice when certain areas of your body become tense

Benefits LATER Tension in the upper back and neck is often caused by stress Leads not only to pain in those areas but also to headaches

Benefits LATER If you continue to perform this exercise on a regular basis: You will learn how to quickly relax those tense areas of your body

Benefits LATER Less stress Less back and neck pain Fewer headaches

Follow-up While medical benefits of this exercise are known, educators may want to document whether and how much this exercise helps students overcome test anxiety

Measuring Success Before and after Control groups Anecdotal evidence Surveys

References Debiec, Jacek. 2004. "Fear and the brain." Social Research. Winter. Educational Testing Service (ETS). 2005. “Reducing Test Anxiety.” The Praxis Series. Online at: http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/PRAXIS/pdf/01361anxiety.pdf LeDoux, Joseph. 1996. The Emotional Brain: the Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life. New York.: Simon and Schuster. University of Maryland Medical Center. 2007. “Sleep Disorders Center: Relaxation Techniques.” Online at http://www.umm.edu/sleep/relax_tech.htm Westen, Drew, et al. 2006. “Neural Bases of Motivated Reasoning: An MRI Study of Emotional Constraints on Partisan Political Judgment in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election,” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol. 18, No. 11: 1947–1958.

Images amygdala - http://changingminds.org/explanations/brain/amygdala_bypass.htm woman afraid of monster - http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_04/i_04_p/i_04_p_peu/i_04_p_peu.html worried young man - http://www.righthealth.com/Health/pictures_Of_Anxiety/-od-images-3-s anxiety cartoon character - http://ambermoon.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/anxiety-simple-techniques-to-help-you-through-it/ meditation, backpain - http://www.fotosearch.com/clip-art/ headache - http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3502545.stm happy people - www.epikone.com glasses - http://www.fastcontactlens.com/images/rectangle-computer-glasses_lg.jpg success image - http://marketingexec.com/content_images/1/defining-it-project-success.jpg