How To Identify Test Anxiety and What You Can Do About It

Short answer: Test anxiety goes beyond normal nerves: signs include catastrophic or intrusive thoughts, blanking on material, headaches, nausea, sweating and, in severe cases, panic attacks. Parents can help by building effective study habits, teaching test-taking strategies, encouraging sleep and a healthy breakfast, and nurturing self-esteem. A healthcare professional can assess more serious anxiety.

The average student takes hundreds of tests during their school years, from short pop quizzes to college entrance exams. It’s normal to feel nervous before and during a test, especially for high-stakes assessments like a final exam or the SAT.

But for many students, this nervousness develops into debilitating test anxiety. It can affect students cognitively, emotionally, and even physically.

Test anxiety can also lead to poor academic performance, creating a destructive cycle of anxious test-taking and low grades. If your child is an anxious test taker, you can help them learn how to deal with test anxiety and develop stronger study skills.

Key points

• It’s common: Experts estimate 20 to 40% of students experience test anxiety.
• Many causes: Perfectionism, past bad experiences, poor preparation and pressure all contribute.
• Watch for signs: Symptoms can be emotional, behavioral and physical.
• Most don’t ask: Many anxious students feel embarrassed and never seek help.
• Preparation helps: Practice exams, tutoring and study groups build confidence.
• Health habits matter: Sleep, breakfast and self-esteem all affect test performance.

• 20–40% of students experience test anxiety
• 65% of students with test anxiety never sought help
• 12 pts lower percentile scores for highly anxious test takers
• 44 questions on the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale

Experts estimate that between 20 and 40% of students experience test anxiety, and each of these figures is sourced in the sections below.

What causes test anxiety in children?

Numerous factors can cause students to develop test-taking anxiety, including:

• Pressure and self-worth: attaching self-worth to grades and test scores, fear of disappointing parents or teachers, perfectionism, and self-doubt
• Comparison and competition: comparisons between the child and other students, competitive school environments, and the perceived importance of the test
• Preparation gaps: failure to master course material before the exam, lack of knowledge about what the test will cover, and unproductive study habits
• Past and outside stress: previous negative experiences taking exams, and external stressors unrelated to the test, like conflict at home or illness

Gender can also affect test anxiety. One study found that female students were significantly more likely to report high test anxiety levels than their male peers.

What are the symptoms of test anxiety?

It can be challenging for parents to distinguish between normal pre-test jitters and test anxiety. Monitoring your child for common signs can help you tell the difference.

Your child may experience behavioral, emotional, and physical test anxiety symptoms, such as:

• Blurred vision
• Catastrophic thinking
• Daydreaming while taking an exam
• Feelings of worry and uneasiness
• Headache
• Hyperawareness of nearby distractions
• Impaired memory
• Intrusive thoughts during the test
• Mild nausea
• Negative thoughts
• Sweating
• Tension

What are the signs of severe test anxiety?

In severe cases, test anxiety can cause symptoms like:

• Fainting
• Feelings of hopelessness
• Heart palpitations
• Panic attacks
• Vomiting

A healthcare professional can assess your child’s anxiety levels using the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale. This method uses 44 questions to measure children’s anxiety levels and determine if they need professional help.

How can you help your child with test anxiety?

Many anxious test takers feel embarrassed and reluctant to seek help from their parents and school staff. Other children may not know they can take steps to reduce their distress.

Research shows that 65% of students with test anxiety have never sought any help for their condition.

“Students are afraid they’re behind, and they don’t want to be embarrassed. But this should never be about ego. It’s simply: where are you, what do we need to learn, and why does it matter?”

Jake Gerhardt, Alexander Tutoring math tutor

Without treatment, test anxiety can lead to poor performance in school. Highly anxious test takers score 12 percentile points lower than low-anxiety students and also drop out of school more frequently.

Fortunately, there are plenty of strategies you can use to help your child overcome test anxiety and succeed academically.

How can you help them study?

Teaching your child effective study methods is one of the best ways to reduce test anxiety. Here are a few ways to help your child review before an exam:

• Arrange for tutoring. Consider a private tutor for your child’s most challenging subject. For example, if your child has math anxiety, a few sessions with an expert math tutor can help them develop confidence and stronger math skills.
• Organize a study group. Help your child form a study group with classmates and friends. Meeting consistently with a study group fosters a supportive peer learning environment, helps students develop productive study skills, and improves academic performance.
• Use practice exams. Many websites offer practice problems and worksheets you can use to build practice exams for the topics your child is studying. Simulating tests at home helps your student check their readiness, master concepts, and rehearse calm test-taking in a safe environment.

These simple techniques can significantly decrease test anxiety by helping your child feel more prepared and supported by family and peers. For a step-by-step approach, see our guide on how to study for math.

Tutor tip: Run practice tests under real conditions: timed, no notes, no checking answers until the end. Getting used to being stuck at the kitchen table makes being stuck on the real test far less scary.

Which test-taking strategies help anxious students?

You can also help your anxious test taker by learning techniques that strengthen test-taking skills. Your child can use these practical approaches to conquer their next exam:

1. Skim every question first. Get a sense of what material the test covers.
2. Read the instructions. Review the instructions for each section carefully before answering.
3. Budget your time. Decide how long to spend on each section to avoid rushing or running out of time.
4. Answer the easiest questions first. Bank quick points and build momentum.
5. Eliminate wrong answers. On multiple choice questions, cross out obviously wrong answers to narrow your choices.
6. Be specific. Give specific examples in short-answer and essay responses.
7. Don’t leave blanks. Answer every question.
8. Double-check. Review your answers before submitting.

These tips can help your student complete exams more accurately and efficiently. For more, see our multiple choice test-taking strategies.

Why do sleep and breakfast matter before a test?

Healthy behaviors can help your student succeed in the classroom and decrease test anxiety. Numerous studies suggest that inadequate sleep can lead to poor academic performance and reduced concentration during exams.

Encouraging your child to get enough sleep in the days leading up to a big test can improve their cognitive processing, memory, and problem-solving skills.

A nutritious breakfast can also affect your child’s learning and test-taking. One study found that middle school students who ate a healthy breakfast daily performed significantly better academically than peers who didn’t eat breakfast routinely.

How can you nurture your child’s self-esteem?

Nurturing your child’s self-confidence and self-esteem can help them cope better with academic challenges and personal setbacks. Techniques that help your child develop a positive self-image include:

• Acknowledging negative emotions
• Providing authentic, unexaggerated praise
• Not talking down about yourself
• Rewarding effort, not results
• Showing interest in your child’s passions
• Teaching self-comfort strategies like journaling

Tutor tip: After a test, ask “What did you learn from the ones you missed?” before “What did you get?” Praising effort and error-fixing takes the pressure off the score.

How can tutoring help with test anxiety?

Testing in schools can cause significant student anxiety, and it often has many causes of stress behind it. If your child feels distressed or nervous during exams, the math and physics tutors at Alexander Tutoring can help.

Our tutoring philosophy emphasizes compassion, confidence, and respect. We teach students practical ways to manage test anxiety and help them build real mastery of the material.

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