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How to Help Students Overcome test anxiety
Thiều Thị Thu Dung
Trường THPT Chuyên Nguyễn Tất Thành, tỉnh Yên Bái
TABLE OF CONTENT
Content

Page

Part 1: Introdction
1. Reasons for choosing the study
2. Aims and significance of the study
Part 2: Content
I. Characteristics of test anxiety
II. Suggestions to help students overcome test anxiety
1.Make test preparation fun
2.How to proceed
3.Tips for giving your students success on test
4.Some other pieces of advice to reduce the level of anxiety
III. Effectiveness of the study
Part III: Conclusion and recommendation
1. Conclusion
2. Recommendation
REFERENCENCES

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How to Help Students Overcome test anxiety
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Reasons for choosing the study
Anxiety is a basic human emotion consisting of fear and uncertainty that
typically appears when an individual perceives an event as being a threat to the
ego or self-esteem (Sarason, 1988). In some instances, such as avoiding


dangerous situations, anxiety can be helpful. However when taken to extremes,
it may produce unwarranted results. One of the most threatening events that
causes anxiety in students today is testing. When students develop an extreme
fear of performing poorly on an examination, they experience test anxiety. Test
anxiety is a major factor contributing to a variety of negative outcomes
including psychological distress, academic underachievement, academic failure,
and insecurity (Hembree, 1988). Many students have the cognitive ability to do
well on exams but may not do so because of high levels of test anxiety. Because
of the societal emphasis placed on testing, this could potentially limit their
educational and vocational opportunities (Zeidner, 1990).
Tests are essential because they allow both you and your students to
evaluate their performance. You will discover what areas they are struggling
with and they will find out where they need to focus their attention. Tests may
hold the key to our educational success—as long as educators are willing to

commit the time and effort required to design tests that foster learning rather
than impede it.
2. Aims and significance of the study
This study aims at:
- Introducing some characteristics of test anxiety
- Providing both teachers and students of English some suggestions
to overcome the problems.
PART 2: CONTENT
I. Characteristics of Test Anxiety
Test anxiety is composed of three major components: cognitive, affective,
and behavioral. Students who experience test anxiety from the cognitive
perspective are worriers lacking self confidence. They may be preoccupied with
negative thoughts, doubting their academic ability and intellectual competence
(Sarason & Sarason, 1990).
Furthermore, they are more likely to overemphasize the potential negative
results and feel helpless when in testing situations (Zeidner, 1998). Some
students may feel the need to answer every question on the test correctly. When
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this does not occur they may think of themselves as being incompetent, thus
fueling negative thoughts such as, "I knew I was not going to pass this test," "I
know I am going to make a poor grade," or "Everyone knows I am not smart."
In order for students to have the best opportunity for academic success,
negative thinking must be minimized and controlled.
From the affective perspective, test anxiety causes some students to
experience physiological reactions such as increased heart rate, feeling
nauseated, frequent urination, increased perspiration, cold hands, dry mouth,

and muscle spasms (Zeidner, 1998). These reactions may be present before,
during, and even after the test is completed. In conjunction with the
physiological reactions, emotions such as worry, fear of failure, and panic may
be present. When students are not able to control their emotions, they may
experience higher levels of stress, thereby making it more difficult for them to
concentrate.
Test-anxious students express anxiety behaviorally by procrastinating and
having inefficient study and test-taking skills. Zeidner (1998) contends that testanxious students have a more difficult time interpreting information and
organizing it into larger patterns of meaning. In addition, some students may
physically feel tired or exhausted during test administration because they do not
have a healthy diet, have poor sleeping habits, and fail to routinely exercise.
II.Suggestions to help students overcome test anxiety
1. Make test preparation fun
Your current unit has come to a close, and you have put your heart and
soul into your classroom activities over the past weeks. Your students have had a
good time and have learned, too, and now comes the most dreaded part of all. It
is not the unit end test but getting your students ready to take it. With all the
creativity and energy you put into the lessons along the way, how can a review
of the material be at all interesting? Here are some ideas to try the next time you
have to get your students ready for the test.
1.1 Let your students write the test
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Maybe you do not want them to write the test themselves, but you may
want to let your class write the review questions. By assigning each person to
write a specific number of review questions, either in class or for homework,
they become the teachers during the review. As any teacher knows, teaching a

subject only makes you know it even better, so having your students write the
review and conduct their parts in class will make them experts on the
information assigned to them. Depending on what your unit covered, you will
need to break the information up among individuals or groups in your class.
You can divide the information by page numbers (give each person one or more
pages and the information on those pages), by topic (assign certain topics you
have covered to individuals or groups), or randomly assign content by pulling
topics out of a hat. No matter how you break the information into pieces, assign
each person or group to write five or more review/potential test questions that
cover the information. You may want to motivate them to do the best job they
can by choosing to include one or more of the best questions in the test itself and
letting them know you will be doing it. That way, the writer of that question
should have no problem getting the answer right and neither should your class
if they pay attention during the review!
1.2 Foster creativity
Another way to let your students do the review starts once again by
assigning topics to groups of students. This time, instead of writing review
questions, ask each person to do one of two things. The first option is to teach the
material to the class a second time. They can use any method they choose, and
making them responsible for the review will ensure that they engage throughout
the process. The second option is to present the information to the class in a
creative way. They may choose to do a skit, a song or another presentation that
will free them to think out of the box. The more outrageous the presentation, the
more of an impact it will have on the viewers, and your class will be sure to
remember the information during the test. If you make a habit of reviewing in
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this manner, your students just may get competitive about how creative they can
be, and the end of every unit will become a celebration and students will look
forward to it with energetic anticipation!
1.3 Make a game of it
Perhaps the best method of test preparation is to play games with your class .
You can find several ideas for ESL games. They work well specifically for
review of material. Not only will your students have fun, they will be energized
with creativity and showmanship. To review content, try Jeopardy with your
students. Though you will have to write the questions ahead of time, your
students will have fun buzzing in, working in teams and getting in some terrific
practice forming questions in English. If your students wrote test review
question in the first activity, use those questions to play classroom baseball.
Divide your class into two teams and get one team “up at bat” first. Designate
each corner of the room as a base. Ask a question, and if the first person
answers correctly, he walks ahead a base. If the answer is incorrect, he is out.
Continue to play and only count points as players pass home plate. After three
outs, the other team is up at bat. If you really want to make things tough on the
teams, let the team “in the field” choose the review questions to ask of the
players at bat. They must know the answer to the question they ask, but they
can use their books and notes and work together to come up with the questions.
If the team asking the questions gives a bad question, the other team
automatically scores a point.Test review does not have to be the most boring
part of the unit.
In fact, it can be fun and engaging and something your students look forward to
the day before a test. By putting the material in the hands of your students, they
not only review the material but also put themselves in the role of teacher
cementing the information in their minds like no other activity can.
2. How to proceed

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You may have horrible memories of taking tests as a student but now that
you are teaching, it is important to test your students on the material you cover
in class. Here are some things to remember when testing students
2.1Frequency
Rather than save material from the whole year to include in one massive
exam, consider quizzing students at the end of each chapter and then every
quarter or semester to break material up into more reasonable amounts. It may
seem like students are always preparing for a quiz or test but as long as they
have clear goals and material is covered thoroughly, they should adapt to the
routine easily. Another benefit is that with more tests, each one is a lower
percentage of the overall grade so there is less anxiety about performance on
individual tests.
2.2Content
Sometimes tests should focus on very specific material while others should
be more comprehensive. It is important to check that students are retaining
information in the long term and not just memorizing information. Use
questions or question types that students have already seen in class. Springing a
new type of question or activity on them during an exam can be incredibility
confusing while including the exact questions from the study guide can be too
easy. Take the middle ground here. Use familiar formats and ask different
questions or variants of questions. This will give students the opportunity to
demonstrate what they have learned without getting bogged down in reading
directions
2.3Variety
If possible try to include a variety of exercises in your tests. Not every
school is able to do this but interview tests can be very effective because

students have to demonstrate their ability to listen and speak as well
as read and write. Since the first two are critical for students who will have the
opportunity to speak English outside the classroom, they are also very
important in the evaluation process. You can also use projects to grade students
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if you are willing to attempt something new. Perhaps for one semester skits can
be the primary factor in determining overall grades. While these can be a
challenge to evaluate compared to multiple choice questions, they also give
students who do not perform well on tests the chance to more fully demonstrate
their abilities
2..4 Preparation
It is important to help students prepare for exams so that they can feel
confident going in to them. By creating a study guide, reviewing material in
class, giving students information about the test, and answering any questions
students have, you will help them immensely. Stress can reduce student
performance so simply encourage them to study the material and do their best.
By reducing their anxiety, you have ensured that they will be more successful.
2.5Incentive
You can also set goals for your students when it comes to exams so that
they have something specific to work towards. Depending on your students, you
should consider individual and class goals. Make these reasonable but
challenging and do not reveal individual test scores to the class as this might
cause some students some embarrassment. You may decide the goal should be a
class average of 85%. Assuming that students performed about this well on past
exams, this should be a reasonable and attainable goal. The incentive might be
that you will not assign homework for one week which will help motivate

students to achieve their target score.
2.6 Review
After returning the graded tests to students, go over the answers so that
students can figure out what they did incorrectly. Simply telling them the
answers will not help them understand their mistakes. You can mark the papers
without correcting them and then go over each and every question in class so
that students can correct their answers and ask questions. While students really
should take advantage of this opportunity to correct their mistakes so that they

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have correct material to review another time, you may need to use an incentive
to encourage students to make corrections.
3. Tips for giving your students success on tests
3.1 Practice makes imperfect
One struggle many ESL students have when taking standardized tests is over
preparation. Now, I don’t mean students can know too much English or have too
advanced skills to take a test. What I do mean is that some students have taken
too many practice exams. For some students, taking practice exams can actually
hinder their ability to succeed on standardized tests. The students who tend to
overtake practice exams are those who feel insecure in their language abilities to
begin with. And the combination of the two can lead to lack of confidence when
it comes to taking the real test. In other words, students can psych themselves
out. Eliminate this problem before your students get to it by limiting the
number of practice tests you administer and encouraging students not to take
too many on their own time, either.
3.2 Lather, Rinse,Repeat

You can overcome lack of confidence in your students (which will have a
detrimental effect when they sit down to take standardized tests) by repeating
activities in class. By giving students an activity that they have already done at
least once in class, your students will be primed for success. Try repeating a
worksheet or activity as an opener for class or as a review activity. Not only will
your students feel good when they know the answers, an encore performance of
given activity will solidify those concepts in your students’ minds, eliminating
questions as well as lack of confidence.
3.3 The circle of life
Repeating a particular activity in class isn’t the only way to give students
confidence and prepare them for success. Try covering the same topic in class at
regular intervals. You can either teach the same material (with different
methods, of course) several days in a row, or spend one day each week teaching
a particular piece of information. Do this until students find the task or material
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easy, and then add a second or third element to your instruction (while still
teaching the material you already covered). This way, students build on what
they already know instead of tossing out the old unit when it’s time to start the
new one.
3.4 Slow and steady
Your students, no matter what standardized test they are planning to take, will
have a listening portion. And preparing them for this section of the exam is
necessary for success. But sometimes throwing them into exam level material,
even if you cover it in small chunks and review it copiously in class, isn’t good
enough. Some students will benefit far more from a simple slowing down of the
listening material. If you have a good classroom tape player or digital recorder,

you should have a slowdown function where you can adjust the speed at which
the recorded information is played. Try slowing down your listening material
for your students until they can successfully perform the task you assign them.
Then, as the days and weeks go by, speed the material up little by little until
your students are able to successfully accomplish their tasks with the tape
running at normal speed, the speed they will have to manage on the exam.
3.5 Clozed for practice
Cloze activities are great for getting an overall read of your students’ skills in
English. When you replace a blank every five to ten words in a given reading
passage, your students will have to rely on all of their language skills to
successfully complete the exercise. You can create a simple cloze activity with
any reading passage your students have read or will read. Don’t require
students to fill in the blanks with specific words. As long as what they write is
grammatical and makes logical sense, they have succeeded at the task.
3.6 Keep it simple
But sometimes testing all areas of language at the same time is not the right
choice, and that is particularly true when preparing ESL students for standardized
exams. Instead of focusing on all areas of language competency at one time, try
choosing only one area for a preparation activity. If you are creating a cloze
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exam, replace only verbs or only conjunctions. This way students will focus on
one area of language competency rather than all areas at one time. In so doing,
students will gain confidence from the more manageable challenge.
3.7 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Using one reading passage for multiple tasks in test preparation will also be
of benefit to your ESL students. Try using a reading passage as the basis for a

cloze activity, then having students do a reading comprehension activity
with the same material, and then using it again for a grammar lesson.
3.8. All in This Together
Multiple choice activities don’t have to give students a choice from A to D for
every question. Instead, try mixing up all of the answer choices at the
bottom of the page with several questions. We often do this with a word
bank for cloze activities and fill in the blanks, but you can change things up
with any multiple choice acidity this way, too. In addition to finding the
correct answers to your questions, students will also have to determine
which answers can be used with each of the questions, adding an element
of grammar and comprehension to any multiple choice exercise.
3.9 Give them the answers
Can it really help your students if you give them the answers to questions that
are supposed to test them? Yes! Giving your students a set of questions with
the answers already marked will challenge them in a different way.
Instead of trying to find the correct answer to the question, you can ask
them to explain why that answer is the right one. That might entail going
to a source paragraph and locating specific information, or it may be that
they explain a grammatical concept or particular vocabulary word. Either
way, when students are on the explaining end of instruction, they will
understand the information better and remember it more easily.
3.10. Make prioritizing a priority
Timed tests are a challenge, but with standardized exams, all the questions
are worth the same amount of points. You can help your students succeed on
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test day by teaching them to answer the easiest questions first. Give your

students some exam style questions, and have them skim through the list
without answering any questions. Instead, have them mark the questions
they immediately know the answers to with a star, the questions they
think they can answer with a circle, and the toughest questions, the real
stumpers, with an exclamation point. Then have students answer the
questions in that order – starred, circled, and then exclamation pointed.
Point out to them that they should follow this pattern on test day, looking
to answer the easy questions first before going back to do the tougher
ones. It may make a big difference in how many points they are able to
score on the big day.
4. Some other pieces of advice to reduce the level of anxiety during an exam
4.1General preparation/building confidence:
Review your personal situation and skills
Developing good study habits and strategies
Managing time(dealing with procrastination, distractions, laziness)
Organizing material to be studied and learned
Take a step by step approach to build a strategy and not get
overwhelmed outside pressures
Reviewing your past performance on tests to improve and learn from
experience
Use whatever strategies you can to personalize success:
visualization, logic, talking to your self, practice, team work, journaling,
etc.
View the exam as an opportunity to show how much you've studied
and to receive a reward for the studying you've done
Learn your material thoroughly and organize what materials you will
need for the test. Use a checklist
Avoid thinking you need to cram just before

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Strive for a relaxed state of concentration
Avoid speaking with any fellow students who have not prepared, who
express negativity, who will distract your preparation
A program of exercise is said to sharpen the mind
Get a good night's sleep :the night before the exam
Don't go to the exam with an empty stomach
Fresh fruits and vegetables are often recommended to reduce stress.
Stressful foods can include processed foods, artificial sweeteners,
carbonated soft drinks, chocolate, eggs, fried foods, junk foods, pork, red
meat, sugar, white flour products, chips and similar snack foods, foods
containing preservatives or heavy spices
Take a small snack, or some other nourishment to help take your mind off
of your anxiety.
Avoid high sugar content (candy) which may aggravate your
condition
4.2During the test:
Read the directions carefully
Budget your test taking time
Change positions to help you relax
If you go blank, skip the question and go on
If you're taking an essay test and you go blank on the whole test, pick
a question and start writing. It may trigger the answer in your mind
Don't panic when students start handing in their papers. There's no
reward for finishing first
Use relaxation techniques
If you find yourself tensing and getting anxious during the test:

Take slow, deep breaths
Don't think about the fear
Pause: think about the next step and keep on task, step by step
Use positive reinforcement for yourself:
Acknowledge that you have done, and are doing, your best

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Expect some anxiety
It's a reminder that you want to do your best and can provide energy
Just keep it manageable
Realize that anxiety can be a "habit" and that it takes practice to use it
as a tool to succeed
III. Effectiveness of the study
Design tests that will allow your students to succeed if they’re really
learning. Some of the most important sections of this study, though, are
those that will help me design tests that really evaluate my students based
on whether they’re learning. Instead of “high stakes” all-or-nothing
questions, learn how to design tools like informal assessments that allow
me to give my students a chance to really shine during testing. If your
reviewing and testing is leading to student dread, it’s time for you to read
this topic today.
After applying these tips in my teaching I have found that my
students are more confident when doing the test. Moreover, it takes my
students much less time to come up with the answers so they have more
time to devote to the other parts of the test, therefore, produce rather
good test results. As a part of the plan, I evaluated the learners’

achievement after the applying the ideas. I decided to use qualitative
approaches to collect the data. Firstly, we made the direct observations
before, during and after applying to evaluate the learners’ behavior
towards these new techniques of teaching. Then, we designed 2 forty-five
minute tests to examine the learners’ achievement after each lesson.
Lastly, we interviewed a group of 5 students in each class to show their
opinion about issues. Here are the observation results after applying the
study in class 10A (majoring in English)
Group 10A:

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The number of

The number of

The number of

The number of

students getting

students getting

students getting

students getting

mark 0-4
Before
After

mark 5-7
Before
After

mark 8-9
Before
After

mark 10
Before

After

applying

applying

applying

applying

applying

applying

applying

applying

the study the study the study the study the study the study the study the study
10/34 = 2/34
12/34
8/34 =
8/34 =
14/34 = 4/34 =
10/34 =
29,42%

=5,87%

=35,30% 23,53%

23,53%

41,18%

11,75

29.42

PART III : CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Conclusion

Test anxiety is something that impacts students from all ethnic backgrounds
and grade levels. Helping students learn to effectively manage such anxiety is a

challenging task that requires a genuine team effort. Students, parents, teachers,
school counselors, and school administrators must all find ways to be actively
involved in reducing test anxiety. We live in a test-taking society and when
students are anxious during tests, they are less likely to perform up to their
academic potential.
2. Recommendation
What I would like to recommend in this study is that how to avoid test
anxiety is an important part in the process of language learning. It makes the
teaching and learning process run smoothly, and helps students acquire knowledge
in a pleasant way. Thus, it is crucial that teachers of English find the ways to
motivate their students in learning English in general and in developing their
skills in dealing with the problem.
Due to the limitation of knowledge and little experience in teaching, a lot of
defects and mistakes are unavoidable. I would like to thank all readers for their
criticism as well as comments for the betterment of the study.
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REFERENCES

Hembree, R. (1988). Correlates, causes, effects, and treatment of test anxiety. Review of
Educational Research, 58, 7-77.

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Sarason, I. G. (1988). Anxiety, self-preoccupation, and attention. Anxiety Research, 1, 37.
Sarason, I. G., & Sarason, B. R. (1990). Test anxiety. In H. Leitenberg (Eds), Handbook
of social and evaluative anxiety (pp 475-496). New York: Plenum Press.
Syncamore, J. E., & Corey, A. L. (1990). Reducing test anxiety. Elementary School
Guidance & Counseling, 24, 231-233.
U. S. Department of Education (1993). Help Your Child Improve in Test-Taking.
Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.
Wilkinson, C. M. (1990). Techniques for overcoming test anxiety. Elementary School
Guidance & Counseling, 24, 234-237.
Zeidner, M. (1990). Does test anxiety bias scholastic aptitude test performance by
gender and sociocultural group? Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 145-160.
Zeidner, M. (1998). Test anxiety: The state of the art. New York: Plenum Press.

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