I don’t have to tell you that the past three years have been chaotic. Whether you’re a high schooler or the parent of one, I know this for certain: you’ve had to figure out ways to keep calm and accept uncertainty.
As it turns out, both of those skills are crucial to succeeding on the SAT or ACT. And so much of my time in the test prep field (over twelve years, now!) have been spent helping students and their parents slay the dragon of anxiety. I’ve streamlined and clarified my clients’ test prep process so they clash less with their parents. I’ve worked with young women so that they don’t fall into the “SAT Gender Gap” (a statistical pattern partly rooted in the fact that some female students overthink and scare themselves into believing they shouldn’t even try to work out the answer to an intimidating math problem). I’ve also put time into clearing away the internal barriers that can hurt external scores.
What does mindset have to do with SAT and ACT scores?
As you’ll know if you’ve been reading my blog, much of SAT/ACT prep means having the right prep plan, managing your time and energy for the marathon that is test prep, having clear SAT or ACT goals, and learning content and strategies particular to those two exams. But there’s another component as well: mastering the mental game of test taking. Get your mind working FOR you—and not against you—on test day, and you’ll have avoided one of the biggest landmines that sabotages otherwise well-prepared students—thus winning yourself a major advantage.
So this post (and the whole test anxiety series it’s part of) will show you several of my favorite hacks, exercises and tricks to conquer test anxiety…and grab the target SAT and ACT scores you deserve!
What is test anxiety?
Test Anxiety is more than just test-day jitters, which most people feel SOME form of. Instead, it’s a particularly intense form of performance anxiety, often characterized by paralyzing feelings of worry, dread or fear. Unfortunately, all those negative emotions can sometimes manifest in physical symptoms, like a racing heart, sweaty palms, feelings of nausea, or blanking out when put on the spot. So, great, now you have to try to keep both your mind and your body on track!
What kinds of students get test anxiety?
Over the course of my career, I’ve found that two types of students tend to suffer from Test Anxiety: the “Perfectionists” and the “Slackers.”
Perfectionism and Test Anxiety
The Perfectionists are so tough on themselves that they can develop a crushing fear of making mistakes. They tend to base a lot of their identity and self-worth in excellent grades, test scores, and other accomplishments, so they melt down when they don’t meet their own (or their parents’) high standards. The Perfectionist tends to do that unfortunate analysis-paralysis thing that deer do when a truck is shining its bright white headlights at them on a road. Not good.
For the Perfectionist, dealing with Test Anxiety is a mental game. But it’s one you can learn to win. And, as a bonus: if you do this self-work now, you’ll also gain higher self-esteem and won’t spend nearly as much on therapy as your friends do ten years from now!
“Slacking” and Test Anxiety
For the Slackers, by contrast, Test Anxiety is a fear that has a seed in reality—because they’re genuinely not as prepared as they might be. But even though that’s an external reason, not a purely psychological torture chamber, there’s a nasty momentum to the experience that soon blows out of proportion. After all, if you truly AREN’T prepared, DON’T grasp the big picture of the test and the sections and the content and the strategies and the goal and the framework—of COURSE you’ll have to deal with all sorts of negative self talk about how hard you’re going to fail!
The Slackers are the opposite of the Perfectionists: they aren’t prepared because they procrastinate, waiting until the last minute to study (if at all). The reason? I don’t personally fall into this category, but I’ve had many students who did (when they first came to me, that is). And I’ve noticed that they often don’t study early and often because they just don’t see the point. I mean, why put in all that work if they already “know” they won’t get a good score, or (ultimately) get into the college they want to attend? That’s a waste of precious energy and time they’d rather spend hanging with friends or gaming.
Relatedly but differently, a Slacker might avoid studying because they can’t see how the work of test prep brings them to a certain big-picture outcome they want. But that brings us to the good news here: if Slackers can learn to connect the sometimes-tedious work of test prep with their long-term dreams, they can climb out of the hole of negativity and get started on prep.
What causes Test Anxiety?
If you search for this question online, you’ll find predictable answers, such as:
“Situational Causes” (you’ve only got a certain amount of time to complete the test; there’s tons of pressure!; you don’t know the content; poor study skills; lack of preparation; lack of control; you did poorly in the past; etc.); and
“Mental Causes” (worries over getting a bad score; fear of disappointing your parents or teachers; high expectations; self-worth that’s wrapped up in accomplishment; negative self-talk; putting too much pressure on a single performance; etc.)
But if we contemplate further, it turns out that virtually all of these reasons can be placed under two big, umbrella reasons:
Test anxiety is caused by lack of preparation
Test anxiety is caused by mental noise or chatter
… which correlate to the two main types of students who typically suffer from Test Anxiety in the first place! (Don’t worry—I’ll give you strategies to tackle both types in this Test Anxiety blog post series.)
And if you want to dig even deeper (because, well, that’s what I do as a test prep guru!), even the reasons for lack of preparation and procrastination are ALSO psychological. It’s the Slacker telling herself why the effort isn’t worth the reward because she DOESN’T see the significance of the test—AGAIN, a matter of self-talk and mental buzz. And the Perfectionist is ALSO battling intense demons mentally: mainly, the stories she tells herself about the importance and the pressure and the HUGE significance of the test.
So really, the Perfectionist and the Slacker are two sides of the “Significance” coin. The Slacker doesn’t see the significance of the test as it pertains to her goals, while the Perfectionist sees nothing BUT the significance—and is thus steamrolled by fear. (And, interestingly enough, I’ve found that some Slackers are actually secret Perfectionists—they feel SO daunted by the significance of the test that even TRYING feels overwhelming. So they don’t.)
And where is all this “Significance” or “lack of Significance” coming from? Why, the stories you tell yourself in your head—i.e. your mental chatter or your “self talk.”
What I mean by mental chatter is: if you let your mind go blank for a moment and don’t hear those snarky comments and reactions you’re having silently in your head about what you’re reading right now—yeah, THAT comment there!—there would be no “story.” There would be no chatter.
And when you clear your mind of chatter, an incredible thing happens: you become what we in the spiritual community refer to as “present.” You can then use your mind to do what it’s SUPPOSED to do: proactively THINK and solve problems—like the ones on the SAT and ACT! And when your mind is uncluttered and only directed at the test questions at hand, you tend to get them right. And get mind-blowing scores, to boot.
But HOW do we clear your mind of all that clutter? There are MANY ways, and different ones work for different people. (That’s why this post is just the first in a sequence I’ll be doing on Test Anxiety.) But today, to kick us off, I’m going to share one of my all-time top strategies.
Test Anxiety Strategy #1: Make 3 Points of Contact
All this one means is to bring your focus to THREE different physical sensations in your body, all at once, and hold your focus there for three deep breaths.
For me, right now that could look like this:
The contact between my fingertips and my keyboard as I’m typing this,
The slight pressure of my tongue on my upper front teeth,
The feeling of my left foot resting on the floor.
For you, maybe your three points of contact are:
The pressure of the chair you’re sitting on against your thigh,
The slight weight of your glasses resting on your nose, and
The softness of your scarf around your neck.
Whatever your three points of contact are, find them, and notice ALL THREE at the SAME TIME while you take in THREE DEEP BREATHS. (I like to do this with my eyes closed, but you don’t have to.)
It’s really remarkable: if you stay focused on ONLY those three points of contact and on ALL of those three points of contact at the same time, the mental chatter will clear, at least for a time. Make it a habit to do this before you start a test section or a study session; it only costs you about ten seconds. Soon, this ritual will become second nature, and you’ll win more and more precious mental space for your brain—which brings clarity. And focus. And comprehension, retention…and yes, a higher number of correct answers.
You’re welcome.
Basically what I’m saying here is that MINDSET MATTERS.
In my experience, test anxiety might sound like a fuzzy, abstract concept—but its impact on test scores can be very, very real. So helping my students address it is also a very real part of my approach to preparing for the ACT or SAT! This type of information that I help my private students with is why I often get comments like, “you offer a fantastic service that includes assessment and coaching, which goes way beyond what a traditional tutor does.” (A real email I received from a client!) If you want that level of personal attention and expert skill to help get you YOUR target SAT or ACT test score, contact me here.
OR, if private tutoring doesn’t fit your budget or study style, never fear! My online course is perfect for you:
This is a totally digital, totally self-directed video class that will help you slay the dragon of your test anxiety. I walk you through over a DOZEN tricks and strategies for keeping calm and testing on. So if you liked the hack that today’s post had to offer, just imagine the kind of score you can achieve with loads MORE of them!
