By LeeAnn Bernier-Clarke MEd, NCC, NCCC

When the school year draws to a close, teenagers have much to look forward to: graduations, proms, parties, vacations, summer jobs, warm weather, water sports, resting and hanging out with friends. However, teenagers also have much to be anxious about: tests, projects and grades for starters.

It is estimated that eight out of 10 high school students suffer from test anxiety.

Finals time at the end of each grading period, and especially at the end of the school year when cumulative tests are often given, are periods of high stress in our secondary schools. They are also stressful times at home, where parents strive to encourage study within an environment where many distractions exist.

Many standardized tests are also given toward the end of the school year. Teens have grown up in an era of high-stakes standardized testing. College Board and standardized test scores have become important means of evaluating both school and teacher effectiveness. Schools are ranked according to their students' standardized test scores. Teachers and other school personnel are often provided monetary incentives for raising test scores. For students, a few points difference on a College Board exam can mean thousands of scholarship dollars.

Does this cause teachers to teach better and students to learn more? Or does it cause students to lose precious learning time preparing for and taking the standardized tests? It's hard to say. What we do know is that the stakes are higher than ever before, the heat is on and testing is here to stay. And with it comes test anxiety.

Test Anxiety

Testing provides a healthy challenge for students and helps them measure what they've learned. For many, test anxiety rouses them to action. It helps them gear up to face a difficult situation, compels them to study harder for the test and keeps them alert during the test. In short, it helps them to cope!

For others, it toys with the mind and plays havoc with self-esteem. Students suffering from test anxiety experience some or all of the following symptoms:

• Fear of failing before arriving to take the exam
• Feeling tension as the exam is being passed out
• Physical symptoms, such as increased heart rate, shortness of breath, perspiring
• Negative thinking that generalizes the situation to some or all other areas of life: "I am going to fail," "I am dumb," "I'll never get into college"
• "Blanking out" on information that was studied
• Recalling information, upon leaving the classroom or a short period later, that was forgotten during the exam
• Frustration with the exam grades after spending extensive amounts of time on test preparation

Tips for Overcoming Test Anxiety

In an article on conquering test anxiety, Diane McDilda offers the following tips for parents to share with their teens:

• Take time to prepare for a test -- don't try to cram everything into your head at the last minute
• Read, then repeat. Go over material again and again
• A memory recall trick is to close your eyes and visualize material such as statistics, dates and other facts. Then, during a test, you can close your eyes and visualize the same information
• Do things that build confidence -- find something you're really good at and give it a try. That confidence can help charge up your self-esteem before an exam
• Don't be afraid to ask a teacher for advice, or to go over any concerns you have about an upcoming test
• Don't make too much out of a test -- teens pick up on parents' anxieties, too
• Anxiety before a test will not be helped by drinking coffee or soda

Don't Give Up

If test anxiety has already taken a serious toll on your teen and the tips above don't seem to help, turn to a professional. Therapists use relaxation, visualization and positive affirmation to replace a student's negative feelings associated with taking tests with feelings of confidence.

Group therapy for math or language anxiety provides insight into what's causing the problem and strategies for overcoming it in a supportive peer group environment. Special test preparation workshops offered by schools, districts or private tutoring centers can also be very helpful for milder cases.

Parents also should be mindful of the messages we are sending our teens about testing. Sometimes our expectations and the way we convey them to our children lie at the root of the problem.

While testing is a necessary part of the educational process -- and one all students must learn to cope with to succeed in school -- the measure of a child's worth or potential should never rest solely on a test score. Teachers sometimes forget this, so parents must work extra hard to keep it in mind and convey it to their teens through words and deeds.

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