Parent Tips - Help Your Child with Test Anxiety

Anxiety that is related to test-taking and test performance is quite common. In fact, at least 40% of all students experience it at one time or another. At a mild level, test anxiety is helpful. It is the brain’s way of making sure we recognize that something is important. In addition, low levels of test anxiety can increase our focus on a task that requires a high level of concentration and effort. But there are times when the test anxiety becomes moderate or severe. At these levels, there can be significant stress and discomfort. High anxiety can reduce focus and make test-taking more difficult.

A student experiencing moderate test anxiety may experience several symptoms. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Physical symptoms - racing heart, nausea, sweaty palms

  • Cognitive symptoms - difficulty concentrating, feeling of your mind “going blank”

  • Emotional symptoms - fear, helplessness, panic

These are all signs that the nervous system’s fight, flight or freeze survival response is starting. Furthermore, if symptoms become severe, it can lead the student to experience a panic attack. This attack is often characterized by an abrupt onset of intense fear and discomfort. Very intense physical sensations (e.g., heart palpitations, shaking) are often present as well.

5 Tips to Support Your Anxious Test-Taker

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  1. Encourage the development of good study habits.

    • Support your child in learning specific strategies for both test preparation and test-taking. Developing good study habits is likely to involve some trial and error. Different strategies work for different students.

  2. Promote good self-care habits.

    • Encourage and support your child to have consistent sleep, nutrition, and exercise. This will help regulate their mood and help their brain work better.

  3. Identify any distortions in the student’s thinking.

    • Distortions in thinking may cause a student to overestimate the likelihood of poor performance (e.g., I am sure I will fail). The student may catastrophize the consequences as a result (e.g., I will have to repeat the grade, I won’t get into college).

  4. Normalize test anxiety as something that is appropriate to the situation.

    • Reassure your student that test anxiety is enabling them to perform well. Also, provide reassurance that a student’s level of anxiety before a test does not actually predict a negative outcome. Recent research suggests that a student can be very anxious before test-taking and still perform well.

  5. Teach and practice relaxation techniques.

    • Students can learn relaxation skills to reduce test anxiety. Diaphragmatic breathing and guided imagery are two such tools. Encourage them to use these skills before, during, and after test-taking.

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What To Do When Test Anxiety is Severe

It is important to note that for some students, test anxiety can be quite debilitating. Particularly those with underlying anxiety disorders.  It impairs the student’s ability to concentrate and retrieve learned information. It also can interfere with the student’s capacity to tolerate the test long enough to complete the exam. Severe test anxiety may also contribute to avoidance. Along with reduced concentration during the test preparation phase, which also impacts performance. 

We recommend these extra strategies for students who experience more severe and debilitating forms of test anxiety:

  • Consult with the school counselor and other members of the student’s school team. Identify available supports and assess the need for testing accommodations.

  • Speak with a CBT therapist. Assess for underlying developmental, learning, or emotional difficulties that may be contributing to test anxiety. Identify and install appropriate intervention strategies. Psychoeducational testing may be warranted.

The Thinking Tree Psychology Approach to Anxiety Treatment and Child Therapy

If your child’s test anxiety is interfering with their life, we can help. The clinicians at Thinking Tree can help your child learn cognitive (thinking) and behavior (body) strategies. We can work with you to manage test anxiety. These strategies rewire the system, make worries less threatening, and less common. Mastering coping tools for anxiety can help your child get their life back. Read more about Therapy for Anxiety at Thinking Tree.

Anxiety Treatment Can Help Your Child:

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  • Notice their worries

  • Balance and reframe their thinking

  • Cope with school stressors

  • Relax their body and mind

  • Notice the joys in learning

  • Increase their self-confidence

  • Try new things

  • Enjoy time with friends

  • Go to sleep on their own

  • Feel like themselves again

Begin Anxiety Treatment in Severna Park, MD

Your child does not have to live with overwhelming anxiety. Anxiety treatment in Severna Park can help your child kick the worry bully to the curb and be themselves again! Our Severna Park office has caring clinicians who specialize in anxiety treatment. We can help your child feel like themselves again. To start your therapy journey, follow these simple steps:

  1. Contact Thinking Tree Psychology

  2. Meet with one of our caring clinicians

  3. Start helping your child get their life back

Other Services at Thinking Tree Psychology

Anxiety treatment in Maryland is not the only service we offer at Thinking Tree Psychology in Severna Park, MD. Other mental health services provided by Thinking Tree Psychology include family therapy, ADHD intervention, psychoeducational testing, and pain management. At this time, we are also offering telehealth psychology services as a convenient, safe way to attend therapy. Please visit our therapy overview page to learn more about additional therapy services. Feel free to visit our FAQ page as well.

Let us help your child get their life back.

Headshot of Laurie Perlis. She is a child therapist in Maryland that offers therapy for test anxiety in Severna Park, MD, anxiety treatment, and more.

Dr. Laurie Perlis is a clinical psychologist at Thinking Tree Psychology. She provides both therapy and comprehensive psychoeducational testing to children, adolescents and young adults. She specializes in the evaluation and treatment of anxiety disorders (Separation Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety, Social and Performance Anxiety, Specific Phobias), body-focused repetitive behaviors and neurodevelopmental disorders including ADHD, Executive Functioning challenges, Specific Learning Disorders and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Laurie Perlis, Psy.D.