Episode 25. What to Do When Facing Testing Anxiety

In this episode, Rebecca and Katie discuss testing anxiety with Academic Coach Rachel Stumpf.

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Transcript for Hidden Curricula Episode 25

What to Do When Facing Testing Anxiety with Rachel Stumpf

Rebecca: Welcome to Hidden Curricula, a podcast exploring aspects of preparation for professional schools that may not be obvious or common knowledge. We will delve into topics of concern for undergraduates and discuss questions that relate to professional school applications. My name is Rebecca Curtin. 

Katie: And I'm Katie Wang.

Rebecca: We are two of four pre professional advisors at Stanford University. Our group works with students who are interested in professional fields such as law, education, business, and medicine. 

Katie: This podcast is not meant to be advice, like we might give to our students, but rather to shed some light on how an advisor might approach various situations and level the playing field for all applicants.   

Rebecca: Today on Hidden Curricula, we're going to be discussing test anxiety with an academic coach, Rachel Stumpf. Rachel, welcome to the podcast. 

Rachel: Thank you for having me.  

Rebecca: Rachel is an academic coach here at Stanford in our Center for Teaching and Learning on the student learning  program's team. She works regularly with undergraduate students to identify strategies for helping them meet their academic goals. She earned her PhD in education from the University of California, Irvine, and her research has focused on students' transition from high school to college writing, as well as professional development and teaching.  

Katie: The term academic coach may be new for some of our listeners. Can you please tell us a little bit about what an academic coach is and how an academic coach works with students? 

Rachel: Absolutely. I like to think of academic coaches as really being a thought partner for students. As students are working on their academic goals, we're really here to support them and help them figure out what are going to be the best strategies for you as an individual to help you meet those goals. And academic goals can really include a range of topics. So a lot of students come in because they're navigating specific academic tasks. Maybe they're completing a course, an assignment, a project, an exam. Other types of students are working on particular academic skills, which could be time management skills, study strategies, reading and note taking approaches. So we can really work together on a wide range of academic endeavors that students might be engaging in. And the way that we typically do that is we meet with students individually in one or more sessions where we can talk about what's working for them academically, what's not working, what are the things that are getting in the way of these academic goals that they have. And then we can also start to brainstorm some ideas and oftentimes students are surprised about the ideas that they might already have for things that might work well for them, but we can also suggest some new ideas if they're looking for some new strategies to try out. And, we can also suggest some evidence based learning strategies, so that can be another perspective that we can offer as well.  

Rebecca: So the reason why we wanted to talk more about test anxiety on our pre-professional podcast is that most students interested in applying to professional programs have to take at least one standardized test in order to matriculate at their particular program. So, from our work with students, we know that even students who are very well prepared may have at least some anxiety around the standardized tests that's required for their application. So, that might be the MCAT or the LSAT or the GRE or the GMAT or another exam. Sometimes these students are also taking classes that require big tasks like midterms and finals, so this is an issue that impacts students in their coursework as well. Some of our students, especially those who applied to college during the pandemic may not have even needed a standardized test for admission to college. So, this could really be the first time these students are approaching tests that can feel really big. and really important. And we're hoping by the end of this episode, we have a better understanding of what test anxiety is, how it might manifest, and what we can do to help ourselves in these really stressful situations. So with all of that said, let's start with some basics. Rachel, would you be able to define test anxiety for us?  

Rachel: So testing anxiety is experiencing significant stress and apprehension about an exam and that stress and apprehension can in some cases impede a student's performance on that exam. So we can think of test anxiety as a, as a kind of performance anxiety, so sort of along the lines of stage fright or, or choking under pressure that folks might experience in like an athletics context. One thing I do want to note just in terms of defining test anxiety is because anxiety is in the title, I think it's important to know that it is not a psychological diagnosis. For some people test anxiety could occur as part of a generalized anxiety disorder. But for most people it's coming up in response to a specific situation, which could be testing in general, or it could be about a particular test that they need to take.  

Rebecca: That makes a lot of sense and that's super important clarification. I appreciate it. 

Katie: Yeah. Thank you. I know tests and  even the idea of a test might make many of us nervous. Can you give our listeners a sense of the scope of testing anxiety? How much anxiety around test taking is fairly typical, especially among the population of students we imagine might be listening to this episode. How common is it among university students?  

Rachel: It's a really great question. I was trying to find a definitive answer to this in the research literature. And there doesn't really seem to be a consensus around how frequently testing anxiety occurs. And it seems like there's a few reasons for that. So one is that It can impact students at any stage in their education from kindergarten to PhD level. It can come up at any time. It also seems to depend for some people on the testing conditions. So whether a student perceives the test as being high stakes or whether they have experience with that kind of test or whether it's a totally new testing situation. And then also test anxiety can really show up as a lot of different things, which I think we'll get into as well. So, the best answer I could find is there was a meta analysis that was done in 2018, where they were looking kind of across a number of research studies on test anxiety, and they were able to find that across these studies about 15 to 22 percent of students experienced high levels of test anxiety. But it is, yeah, something that occurs on a spectrum, so it can be sort of experienced in a number of different ways. I will say just as an academic coach, it is definitely a topic that comes up pretty frequently in academic coaching sessions and in a few different ways. So for some students, they just generally feel anxious about tests. For some, it's maybe a particular course where they're feeling nervous about the tests or maybe they've kind of had some not so great experiences with tests in the past. I would say that the good news is that many students do find that making some changes to the strategies they're using leading up to the exam and during the exam can really make a big difference to the test anxiety.  

Rebecca: And you know, it's occurring to me as we're talking, and the word anxiety is coming up really frequently, that saying that word anxiety over and over again, it's kind of making me feel a little anxious. You know, I'm curious if there's different ways that a coach might talk about test anxiety in a way to, I don't know, kind of decrease the pressure? 

Rachel: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, I think, one way to think about it is we know from research on stress that actually a little bit of stress, a little bit of anxiety can actually be a good thing. So when we get just a little bit of that adrenaline rush, that can be performance enhancing. It helps us feel motivated to do a good job. It helps us sort of focus in on the task at hand, but as we sort of turn up the dial on some of that stress and anxiety there is a bit of a tipping point where it becomes less helpful and sort of more harmful in terms of our ability to focus and do well. So I think one thing that can be helpful is if you're starting to kind of feel that anxiety rather than looking at it as a signal that like, “Oh no, something's going wrong. You know, now this means that I'm not going to do well on the exam,” to look at it maybe as kind of like a check engine light on a car, right? Like, okay, maybe there's something going on here that I can be curious about. Is there something about my testing approach that maybe I don't feel entirely confident about? Are there some thoughts that are coming up for me that maybe aren't the most hopeful as I'm thinking about this exam. So maybe looking at it from kind of a place of curiosity rather than like, “Oh no, there's this, anxiety that's coming up for me and this is going to be a bad thing.” 

Rebecca: Yeah, that sounds like a really helpful strategy. So, as a kind of a question that may follow up with some of those ideas, how can someone know that they are experiencing test anxiety? Is it a fairly obvious thing? Are there signs that we can be looking out for that might trigger me to do that “check engine light” status check. 

Rachel: Mm hmm. There's basically three categories of where we might see test anxiety showing up. So the first is some physical symptoms. So people might feel a little bit shaky or sweaty. You might feel your heart rate becoming more elevated. You might have a stomach ache or a headache on sort of the more severe end of things. So that would be one category. Second would be some emotional signs. So, feeling really fearful about the outcome of the exam. Maybe feeling a bit irritable. Feeling a sense of hopelessness or or even a sense of disappointment about how this test might turn out for you. And then the third category would be some behaviors that can come up. So, that might include trouble sleeping, starting to procrastinate studying because it just feels too uncomfortable to engage in that or to kind of think about the implications of that studying. It could include difficulty focusing either as you're preparing for the exam or during the exam itself. And also comparing yourself to others. This can come up a lot as well, sort of feeling like maybe I'm not good enough or maybe because I'm feeling some of these things, it's a sign that I'm not going to do well on this exam or others are feeling more confident than I am. So, so those are kind of the three categories. And again, you know, we can sort of use these as just little indicators that maybe something's happening here in terms of how we're preparing for the exam or how we're thinking about the exam that that we can intervene on and that we can make some shifts around so that we're not feeling that extreme nervousness when we actually take the exam. 

Katie: You've touched on this a bit already, but I'm curious like what might lead someone to experience test anxiety or perhaps lead someone to go from being slightly nervous about a test to being extraordinarily nervous about a test and maybe have some more severe symptoms around the idea and experience of taking a test.

Rachel: Yeah, so the way we, we typically think about test anxiety is that it's something that tends to occur during the actual exam or leading right up to it, where maybe things were going fine, and then we start to engage in some narratives in our, in our mind that are less than helpful. So it's really starting to put pressure on ourselves, feeling like,” Oh my gosh, this is super high stakes. I have to do well. If I don't do well, then it's. going to impact me in these different ways,” sort of catastrophizing maybe as you're getting into the exam, you see a question you don't know, and it becomes this narrative of, “okay, if I don't know this question, then like, clearly I'm not prepared for the exam and I'm not going to do well.” And so we're, we're starting to become sort of enraptured in these different thoughts that become very distracting and it becomes difficult to focus and do our best work. So, I would say that's kind of the way we typically think of testing anxiety. 

Rachel: When I was doing a little bit of research on this topic. One thing that was interesting is there is some newer research. There was a study that came out in 2022 that found for a lot of students the test anxiety actually happens much earlier in the process. So it's not necessarily the case that everything's fine and then day of it's like, now I'm sort of choking under pressure though that certainly can happen. But rather, for many students those feelings of nervousness as they're starting, it can lead to maybe not learning as much as you're engaging in the study activities or you're procrastinating or kind of avoiding some of the preparation that would be helpful, which in some ways is, is more helpful understanding that because it means we can then intervene earlier in the process. So we can maybe think about what are some ways to reduce some of those anxious thoughts. What are some ways to help you get started with the studying and not procrastinate? So it seems that actually, for many people, the test anxiety is coming up much sooner and that's where it's really interfering with the exam experience. 

Rebecca: Yeah, and I think that my next question kind of relates nicely. So what are some techniques that can help if someone is experiencing test anxiety? You mentioned the kind of in the moment that engine light check is helpful. Are there others that people can do? Maybe they experienced test anxiety, recognized it as such, and are working to help them for the next test. 

Rachel: There are a lot of great strategies that have been researched and that I know students that I've worked with in academic coaching have applied and found to be helpful. So, the first one I think is maybe just kind of zooming out a bit. I know, Rebecca, you were mentioning earlier for many students, especially if you're taking a test like the MCAT or the LSAT, it may be the very first time that you're taking a test like this, but there's probably been other times in your life where you've been in some kind of high pressure situation. So maybe it was playing a sport or you were doing a musical performance or giving a speech. So sometimes it can be helpful to actually draw some connections between what are some experiences I've had having to perform under pressure and what strategies did I use in those instances to stay calm and stay focused? So maybe it was listening to music, maybe there were certain songs that helped you feel more like hyped up going into the experience. Maybe you had  a mantra that you used, something that you were repeating to yourself as a way to engage in some positive self-talk before the event. So that can be a useful way just to kind of see this as not an isolated experience, but maybe something that you have in fact experienced in other contexts. 

Rachel: In terms of preparation, definitely using effective strategies to study for the exam can help feel or help you feel more confident coming into the exam that you are well prepared. I think one thing I would add is if you're starting to feel some anxiety, actually preparing under stress can be helpful. So that way it doesn't feel like a totally new experience when you get to the exam and it's timed and you're sort of feeling that added pressure. So when you're maybe doing a practice exam, actually setting a timer and maybe having that timer visible so you can kind of feel what it's like to work under that more stressful situation, or maybe doing some rapid fire questions as you're studying with friends. Those can be ways to sort of practice not only the content of the exam, but also to see what it's like to experience those exam conditions and make sure that you're ready for that aspect of the exam as well. Another strategy is different ways to manage your self-talk leading up to the exam and then also during the exam. So when some of those unhelpful thoughts are coming up where we're starting to put a lot of pressure on ourselves, when we're starting to catastrophize and think about like worst case scenario. When we can sort of recognize that those thoughts are coming up, maybe having some mantras or responses ready that we can use to challenge some of those thoughts. So if I have the thought that's, you know, this worst case scenario is going to occur, what would I want to say to myself to kind of challenge that thought? So doing some brainstorming or you could also think about if you're having trouble, like applying that to yourself, what would you tell a friend who is experiencing some of those thoughts if they were in that situation? Often it's a lot easier to give advice to, to other people than it is to apply that to ourselves. So actually having those responses at the ready so that you're able to access them when some of those negative thoughts are coming up for you. There's also been some really interesting research on writing about how you're feeling. There's been some research on, like, right before the exam, kind of writing out any nervousness that you have, any thoughts that are coming up that are feeling distracting, and then being able to just set that aside and be able to then transition into the exam itself. There's something about writing things down and then having that distancing that can be really helpful. And of course you can do that as you're preparing for the exam as well just to kind of set those thoughts aside and be able to have a place to contain them. And, then the last thing I'll mention is if you're starting to feel just some of those physical symptoms, especially the day of the exam, if you're to feel a little sweaty or jittery, some movement can be helpful going for a walk, doing some stretching beforehand, maybe thinking about limiting caffeine because sometimes that adrenaline rush, it's almost like having a shot of espresso. And so having additional caffeine could be counterproductive. And then also just doing some breathing exercises. So when we're starting to feel that elevated heart rate, or if we're starting to feel our breathing becoming a little bit increased, there's a strategy called box breathing, where you just inhale for a certain number of counts, and then you exhale for a certain number of counts. So maybe it's counting to three as you inhale, exhaling for a count of three that can just help sort of bring things down and help us feel a little bit more calm in the moment. 

Rebecca: I love all of those strategies and particularly the first one you mentioned that for folks that are encountering a big test for maybe the first time thinking about, of course, there's been other situations that are high pressure and such a great way to reflect on and empower the person even like how did you make it through that? I think that's a wonderful strategy. 

Katie: Yeah, I love all these. I'm just like simmering on them. What great resources. Thank you for sharing. 

Rebecca: Coffee will be hard. Caffeine will be a hard one. 

Katie: There's a fine balance, I imagine, right? You want to be, you want to be awake. Alert. 

Rebecca: Half a cup.

Katie: And not too, too overstimulated. I am curious about the writing suggestion. I have heard that technique about  journaling helping for a lot of different kinds of things. I'm curious if in that research, if it was shown that writing out by hand was any different than maybe typing on a keyboard. I'm thinking the physical nature of maybe setting it as setting, setting your journal aside as a sort of symbolic gesture to oneself. This is over here and my attention. 

Rebecca: Burning it and ripping it into pieces. It's done. 

Rachel: Yeah, that's a great question. I have not seen research on this. I imagine someone has done this study to see if there is a difference writing by hand versus doing it on a, on a computer or a phone. But I would imagine too, even if you're doing it on a digital device, maybe there could be something symbolic about closing the lid to my laptop and setting that aside or writing it out on a note on my phone and then turning off my phone and setting it aside, so you may be able to still get the same benefits,

Katie: So you've already offered many resources for our listeners, and I think that those are going to be extraordinarily helpful. I'm  curious if you have any other recommendations, perhaps that would be relevant to a broad audience. So maybe test takers who are not current students, because they might not have access to someone who is an expert in this space like yourself. Are there any other suggestions you have for resources to turn to if someone is concerned about test anxiety being an issue for them?  

Rachel: I think there's a couple of books that I would recommend if people are wanting to learn a little bit more about this topic and maybe get even more strategies. So there's a book called Choke by Sian Beilock, which talks about a few different kinds of performance anxiety, so stage fright ways that athletes sometimes choke under pressure, and then there is also a section on test anxiety. So I think that can be a great way just to learn a little bit more about the topic. We've discussed some of the strategies already that are included in the book, but, but that's one that I would point people to. And then there's another book called Chatter by Ethan Kross that talks a lot about self talk and the power of being able to intervene to some of our self talk. So if you're starting to experience some of those negative thoughts that are coming up in preparing for the exam, I think that's another great resource. And both of them also have done interviews on the Hidden Brain podcast, which is one of my personal favorite podcasts. So that can be a nice just kind of quick way to engage with their work and maybe get some additional takeaways.  I think the other thing I would recommend is if you are really experiencing pervasive or debilitating test anxiety to definitely connect with a mental health professional. So definitely there's, you know, a lot of general strategies that people can find to be helpful, but if things are really escalating for you, definitely connect with a mental health professional, because that can be another way to get some additional perspective and strategies. 

Rebecca: We're calling our podcast Hidden Curricula. So with the goal, it has the goal of uncovering some of the hidden nature of pre-professional paths, so are there aspects of test anxiety that may not be known to those who aren't in the academic coaching space? Are there pieces of this that we haven't yet touched on today or that might be helpful for our listeners to better understand when they're thinking about test anxiety or just test taking in general? 

Rachel: The one thing I would add is just to commend listeners for taking the time to learn more about this topic, more about test anxiety, more about test preparation. There is this expression that “if you can name it, you can tame it.” So sometimes simply understanding that this is happening, I'm experiencing some test anxiety, being able to recognize that then gives us an opportunity to intervene and apply some strategies to be able to counter some of that anxiety. And I think what can be helpful to you about sort of naming what's happening is when it comes to taking a test I think we can often feel that there's a lot of things that are out of control. So, we don't know exactly what the exam will look like, we can't exactly predict how we're going to feel the day of the exam. But if we can focus on the things that we can control, so feeling really confident about the strategies that I'm using to prepare for the exam, really getting informed about what the exam will look like, trying to look at some practice exams if you can. And then also having those strategies that you can tap into if you are starting to feel that anxiety. I think all of those things can really go a long ways towards making you feel more empowered about the exam rather than feeling like this is just an experience that's kind of happening to me that I have to just get through. 

Rebecca: Yeah, that's so true. And I love the “If I can name it, I can tame it.” and I think it encapsulates a lot of the relief that folks feel sometimes when something is named, because it means that there are steps you might then be able to take to tackle it. It's super helpful.  

Katie: Yeah, Rachel, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been really enlightening, I think, for the two of us, but also hopefully for everyone who gets a chance to listen. So really, thank you for your advice and your time today. 

Rachel: Absolutely. Thanks again for having me.