Combatting Test Stress

Oh no! Your teacher just told you that there's a major test in one week. It's in your worst subject, and you've really been struggling with the current unit. On top of that, it's going to count for thirty percent of your final grade. What are you going to do?

Thankfully, this is just a hypothetical scenario, so you can let out that breath of air now. However, this does happen to most students at least once or twice in their academic careers. If you're looking for tips to combat test stress, you've come to the right place. I'm going to lay out a nice little timeline for you to follow, starting with two weeks before the test (I'm not a time traveller, just well-prepared) right up to the seconds before the paper lands on your desk. Please note that the following timeline doesn't apply for major tests like the SHSAT, SAT, ACT, or regents exams. You should start studying for your Regents at least a month in advance, and you should spend a solid six months getting ready for the SAT and ACT tests.


Two weeks before The Test: You don't know that you have a test coming up in two weeks (yet) but as a well-prepared student, you know that teachers give tests and quizzes all the time, and that some of the really mean ones even give random pop quizzes at the worst of times. In order to stay prepared for every eventually, you do a little of studying every night by reviewing your class notes for fifteen minutes every school day. And believe it or not, doing your homework, asking questions in class, conferencing with your teachers, and actively participating in classroom discussions and other in-class work is a form of studying as well. The more invested in learning you are, the easier you'll find tests and quizzes, and studying.


One week before The Test: It's Friday, but you're pretty bummed out about the test. First of all, cheer up. With the right study methods, that test is going to be a piece of cake, or at the very least not a complete disaster. Right now is the time to come up with a plan. Set aside a set amount of time to study for the test every day for the next seven days. Look up practice sheets on the topics, and bookmark them on your computer. Go through your notes, and highlight, star, or even rewrite the most important parts. Make a list of your greatest strengths and weaknesses in this particular class and unit, and make sure you spend a lot more time on your weak areas than on your strong areas. Shoot a quick e-mail to your teacher asking if you can conference with him or her sometime before the test if one or two topics are leaving you completely lost. If you have a tutor, inform him/her of the upcoming test and, if you feel you need it, try to arrange an extra or extended session with them. Call/text/hologram (is that a thing yet?) your friends and see if you can get together a small study group. If you were going to see your friends anyway this weekend, you might want to postpone your trip to the ice skating rink and head over to your local library instead. (If you are going to have a study session this weekend, make sure it's somewhere you won't get distracted. You're not going to get any studying done if someone succumbs to the siren song of your X-Box 500.)


The week leading up to The Test: Stick to the plan. If you said you were going to study for 60 minutes on Monday, study for 60 minutes on Monday. See your tutor, visit your teacher, meet up with your friends for lunch-time study groups, etc. The better prepared you are, the less stressful the test will be.


The night before The Test: Make sure you eat a good dinner tonight. Try to stay away from greasy foods that might give you a belly ache, and make sure you don't wash dinner down with an entire packet of cookie dough. I know it's tempting, but your stomach will not thank you in the morning. Do a bit of light exercise before sundown to burn off some energy (just make sure that you stay away from more dangerous sports like mountain-biking, at least for tonight). Take a nice, relaxing shower or bubble bath and settle down to read your favorite book. Try not to study too hard tonight. Cramming never did anyone any good, and all-nighters are just a bad idea all around. If you feel that glancing over your notes might help you, feel free to spend fifteen or twenty minutes doing so, and then put it away for the evening. You're as prepared as you're ever going to be. If you frantically try to cram everything into your head now, all you're going to do is get stressed out and throw yourself off your game. Go to bed a little early if at all possible, and set your alarm to wake you up 15 minutes earlier than usual.


The morning of The Test: Urg, waking up. I know, I don't like it either, but you're getting up early for a reason. Mornings can be stressful, and stress is the thing we're trying to avoid here. Waking up a little early will give you time to do everything you need to do in a calm, orderly manner instead of in a mad dash to get everything ready before the bus comes. Make sure you have pencils and a calculator in your book bag, and everything else you might need for your test, like a protractor or a ruler. Eat a healthy breakfast with lots of fruits, protein, and whole grains. Example: A toasted whole wheat waffle with strawberries and a little dollop of cream, paired with a breakfast sausage and a glass of milk. If you have to have coffee, reach for the decaf. You don't want to be running to the bathroom every ten minutes during the test, and the smell might be enough to trick your body into waking up faster.


Ten minutes before The Test: If you can, excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. Splash some cool water on your face and do a little bit of stretching to loosen your limbs. Wait until you're done in the bathroom to start doing some calming breathing exercises. Slowly breathe in to the count of five, hold for the count of six, and exhale for the count of seven. Repeat.


Five minutes before The Test: By now, you should be settled in to your desk. Take out your materials if you haven't already, and keep breathing. Tell yourself that everything is going to be fine. You studied, after all. You studied hard, and even if you don't feel confident, you are prepared and awake and full of good food. This test won't know what hit it.


At the end of The Test: Thank goodness that's over, right? If you're still a little (or a lot) nervous about how you did, remind yourself that you studied. You did your best. You got all the extra help you could. And even if you don't get a stellar grade, chances are that you won't have failed, and in the end, it's just a test. One bad grade isn't going to ruin your entire future. You might want to ask your teacher if they offer extra credit as well, especially if you asked them for a conference earlier in the week. Teachers tend to be a lot more willing to help you succeed if you're willing to go the extra mile and meet them halfway.

More Free Math Worksheets

At Math-Drills.com, you can find thousands of worksheets on a wide variety of topics from simple computations to algebra, geometry, and statistics. After selecting a general topic to study, you will be taken to a list of sub-topics and their accompanying worksheets. Each worksheet has several different versions, which is ideal if you need a little extra practice.

For students in Kindergarten through Grade 5, k5learning.com has a range of free worksheets on various math, grammar, and reading comprehension topics.

You can also find a ton of free math worksheets, video lessons, games, and activities for students in 1st through 7th grade at this website.

Free K-5 Math Workbooks

At The Math Learning Center, you can download hundreds of pages worth of free material to help your student succeed.

Just click on the links below, select your child's grade level, and click 'download.' A PDF file will open up, and you will find various activities and worksheets if you scroll down about 20 or 30 pages.

Bridges Collection of Activities and Worksheets

Practice Books (Please note that these have not been revised to align to the current Common Core standards.)

Problem Solving with Story Boxes for Grades K-2

Introduction to the "beauty and excitement" of math for grades 3 and 4

Lessons and Activities:

• Kindergarten
• 1st Grade
• 2nd Grade
• 3rd Grade
• 4th Grade
• 5th Grade

I also found a free publication about becoming a better math tutor that I will be browsing through later today.

Math Workbooks and Vocabulary for K-5

You can find grade- and age- appropriate math resources at the link below. There are two workbook volumes for each grade, in addition to a vocabulary sheet and a fun 'homework' book that can also be used to practice math skills.

http://www.iusd.org/student_resources/mathematics.html

Tests, Tests, and More Tests

Well, the NYS ELA tests are officially over. Yay! You've overcome one of several hurdles you'll be facing this year. All New York State students will be taking their math exams later this month, and fourth and eighth graders also have the state science tests to look forward too. Fifth and eighth graders have social studies exams as well.

I would recommend that you begin preparing for those tests now. Take some practice tests to get an idea of how you will do on those tests.


Practice Tests for Math:

Grade 3: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade3/Mathematics/home.html

Grade 4: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade4/Mathematics/home.html

Grade 5: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade5/Mathematics/home.html

Grade 6: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade6/Mathematics/home.html

Grade 7: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade7/Mathematics/home.html

Grade 8: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade8/Mathematics/home.html

And, for my eighth grade students looking for a challenge, try doing some of the problems on the Algebra Regents: http://www.nysedregents.org/IntegratedAlgebra/


Practice Tests for Science:

Grade 4: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade4/Science/home.html

Grade 8: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade8/Science/home.html


Practice Tests for Social Studies:

Grade 5: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade5/SocialStudies/home.html

Grade 8: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade8/SocialStudies/home.html