Test prep as therapy for test anxiety

[Anonymous]

Sophomore DD has extreme test anxiety. She receives accommodations (504 Plan) but still struggles with feeling confident taking tests even when she knows the material. Her experience with the PSAT was traumatic and I’m wondering if enrolling her in a test prep course would make her feel more or less stressed. I’ve read that CBT is helpful for high anxiety kids. Is test prep - giving her lots of practice taking tests - a form of therapy or just ratcheting up the pressure?

We need to help her confront this, not just for high pressure tests like the SAT/ACT, but for all tests. She has tried general therapy for anxiety, but it was not helpful at all and now she’s reluctant to try again.

[Anonymous]

Best way to get over a test phobia is to practice in conditions that mimic test conditions as closely as possible. And not to avoid. Check out sian beilock's research on choking. Therapy can help with self-talk. Test prep can help if feel prepared lowers anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anxiety is a feeling but not a reality. The best way to get over anxiety is to push through the discomfort. I do think CBT could be helpful but continuing to expose her to tests and encouraging her to be comfortable with failure is key.

[Anonymous]

Excellent idea. Do lots of practice tests in “exam” conditions.

[Anonymous]

I’m a test prep tutor and often work with kids who have accommodations.

Why was DD’s PSAT “traumatic”? Did she get her accommodations?

Sometimes accommodations are not given. Sometimes the accommodations are not enough or not the right ones. Sometimes kids have not had enough practice with accommodations to use them effectively. Sometimes kids have underlying problems that can’t be accommodated - like extreme difficulty memorizing rules and formulas, without which it is impossible to succeed.

Sometimes kids have so many bad experiences they have a learned phobia. Sometimes kids are engaging unconsciously in psychological behaviors like catastrophizing or fear of failure or not trying (as a form of psychological protection) or simply never having been effectively taught or being made fun of or treated as stupid when taught. For these students, I am part tutor and part psychologist.

And, frankly, some kids with extreme anxiety would benefit from meds. Sometimes anxiety is due to the external environment. Sometimes it is really internal chemistry that is out of whack with the external reality and thus not controllable with exposure or therapy.

TBH, as a parent, I would really explore your own rhetoric around college as well. Good SAT or ACT scores can help tremendously, but are not a golden ticket to any school. If your kid has good grades, find (google “commondata” plus the school name) the schools where her GPA falls in the top 25%ile of admitted students and which do not require test scores - post-pandemic there are many. Make several applications to those places, without test scores and emphasizing grades and other aspects of her life. She has to know she has options, even without good test scores and that one can be successful in life without going to an Ivy or even a “good” college.

[Anonymous]

^^Also, I forgot to say, I do not think a test prep class would be that helpful, but a private tutor would be better. As a private tutor I can respond to students and tailor instruction and address psychology in a way I cannot when I teach a class. Some kids with anxiety are more anxious in a class - e.g. the social anxiety of having to answer publicly or the anxiety created when the class is moving at a pace greater than the student’s processing speed, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a test prep tutor and often work with kids who have accommodations.

Why was DD’s PSAT “traumatic”? Did she get her accommodations?

Sometimes accommodations are not given. Sometimes the accommodations are not enough or not the right ones. Sometimes kids have not had enough practice with accommodations to use them effectively. Sometimes kids have underlying problems that can’t be accommodated - like extreme difficulty memorizing rules and formulas, without which it is impossible to succeed.

Sometimes kids have so many bad experiences they have a learned phobia. Sometimes kids are engaging unconsciously in psychological behaviors like catastrophizing or fear of failure or not trying (as a form of psychological protection) or simply never having been effectively taught or being made fun of or treated as stupid when taught. For these students, I am part tutor and part psychologist.

And, frankly, some kids with extreme anxiety would benefit from meds. Sometimes anxiety is due to the external environment. Sometimes it is really internal chemistry that is out of whack with the external reality and thus not controllable with exposure or therapy.

TBH, as a parent, I would really explore your own rhetoric around college as well. Good SAT or ACT scores can help tremendously, but are not a golden ticket to any school. If your kid has good grades, find (google “commondata” plus the school name) the schools where her GPA falls in the top 25%ile of admitted students and which do not require test scores - post-pandemic there are many. Make several applications to those places, without test scores and emphasizing grades and other aspects of her life. She has to know she has options, even without good test scores and that one can be successful in life without going to an Ivy or even a “good” college.

Thanks for your response. Her experience with the PSAT was traumatic because she didn't receive her accommodations. She was on two lists and sent to the wrong room. I know the results aren't an accurate measure of her aptitude, but they reinforce how badly she needs those accommodations. She was overwhelmed, panicked and froze. Her GPA is 3.94U/4.3W and her test scores placed her in the 5th percentile, so the disconnect is dramatic. I'm not too worried about her getting into college because she will focus her search on test optional schools. But I am concerned about her anxiety and lack of confidence in her abilities. Her anxiety is not a problem in other situations, and she is generally a well adjusted and happy kid, so we are not considering medication at this time. But I want her to feel competent and confident in these high stress situations.

Budget is an issue for us, and we can't afford one-on-one tutoring, unfortunately. We will need to choose an online test prep program like Kaplan or PR, or do Khan Academy and lots of practice tests.

[Anonymous]

Does your DD have a therapist for her anxiety? If not, and you can’t get her one for some reason, I’d suggest doing some research on apps like Calm or other online sources. She needs to have a toolkit of ways to prepare herself mentally before—and to regroup during—high-stress situations like exams. Preparation for the test itself will be important, but anxiety has no respect for logic when you’re in the moment.

My DD’s therapist had her work with some classical conditioning techniques for anxiety. She chose a lip balm with a distinct smell. They did some breathing exercises and meditation, then immediately afterwards she was to inhale the scent of the chapstick to link the scent with the feeling. After a number of sessions, she was able to discreetly put on the lip balm while inhaling the scent, and it would enable her to get back to that calm, centered state without drawing attention to herself.

This was for social anxiety, so having something common and easily available like the lip balm was important for her. But your DD might be able to use an essential oil like lavender or peppermint that she could apply to the inside of her wrists before a test. Rubbing the spot with her thumb should reactivate the scent, and wouldn’t violate any testing rules. But the key is to work in advance on strongly associating the scent with a calmer mindset, so it will help her reach that state with just a few deep breaths.

That’s just an example, of course, but with a bit of trial and error, your DD will hopefully find a few thing that work for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does your DD have a therapist for her anxiety? If not, and you can’t get her one for some reason, I’d suggest doing some research on apps like Calm or other online sources. She needs to have a toolkit of ways to prepare herself mentally before—and to regroup during—high-stress situations like exams. Preparation for the test itself will be important, but anxiety has no respect for logic when you’re in the moment.

My DD’s therapist had her work with some classical conditioning techniques for anxiety. She chose a lip balm with a distinct smell. They did some breathing exercises and meditation, then immediately afterwards she was to inhale the scent of the chapstick to link the scent with the feeling. After a number of sessions, she was able to discreetly put on the lip balm while inhaling the scent, and it would enable her to get back to that calm, centered state without drawing attention to herself.

This was for social anxiety, so having something common and easily available like the lip balm was important for her. But your DD might be able to use an essential oil like lavender or peppermint that she could apply to the inside of her wrists before a test. Rubbing the spot with her thumb should reactivate the scent, and wouldn’t violate any testing rules. But the key is to work in advance on strongly associating the scent with a calmer mindset, so it will help her reach that state with just a few deep breaths.

That’s just an example, of course, but with a bit of trial and error, your DD will hopefully find a few thing that work for her.

These are great ideas. I remember doing something similar in HS. Deep breathing and visualization alone (no additional prep) increased my scores by 250.

[Anonymous]

I would separate the problem into SAT preparation and addressing the test anxiety. Use KhanAcademy’s free tests to prepare. She can take them under time pressure or not and use the results to identify areas to study within khanacademy. Separately work with a coach on the test anxiety. I wouldn’t do most of the high profile SAT courses prep courses around here. They seem to be focused around worksheets drills and packets to review content. Doesn’t adapt to student need.