Finals are coming up. I figured we would talk some about how you can help your students overcome testing anxiety. My daughter has a whole lot of test anxiety. We’ve tried many different things, here is what we’ve found works the best for her and other students.
– Know the questions – by now you should know the types of questions your students do well on and what they do poorly on. There are many different places you can go online for example test questions and guidance on how to do better at the questions they are having difficulty with.
– After you’ve figured out what type of questions they’re having trouble with, make sure they know the content, and then work on making it available to them in a format they were having trouble with. Let’s say for example they have trouble with essay questions, they have an American History final coming up. Find out how the teacher had asked previous essay questions and work on creating new questions from the new content.
– Give them confidence. I think half the battle is getting your students to believe they can do well on tests. Find out what they need to make on the final to make the grade they want to in the class. My daughter had a History final coming up, but she could score a 60 on it and still make an A for the class. Letting her know this helped to relieve a ton of her anxiety.
– Have several practice tests before the actual event. You can keep these tests for future students.
– After action reviews – it’s what we called it when I was in the Army after an exercise. After the testing make sure you have at least one tutor session with your student. If they get a copy of the test and their answers back make sure you go over it with them. Highlight what they missed and help them figure out how they can do better on the next test.
– Give them a reason to learn. With high school students it’s hard sometimes for them to look at the big picture. I try to remind them they will see most of the subjects again if they go to college. If they learn it well now, then they won’t have to relearn it again in the future.
Hopefully this helps you a bit. I know these times can be stressful for tutors as well, just keep reminding you that summer vacation is coming soon.