Those who study for college tests are less likely to become worrisome or tense whenever given a test. Test anxiety is the most common academic impairment in grade school, high school, and college. For students who struggle with test anxiety, a bit of pre-exam nervousness turns into debilitating feelings of worry, dread, and fear, which can negatively impact performance. Test anxiety is more than feeling a little nervous before a test. People are less likely to become anxious when doing something that is familiar. Some anxiety is natural and helps to keep you mentally and physically alert, but too much may cause physical distress, emotional upset, and concentration difficulties. Sometimes the student needs to simply relax. Test anxiety is a psychological condition in which a person feels distress before, during, or after a test or exam to the point where stress causes poor performance. Overview of Test Taking and Anxiety Test anxiety is a feeling of agitation and distress associated with test taking, which impacts your ability to study or perform on the test. The 2014 National College Health Assessment found that 54% of all college students report feeling overwhelming anxiety, up from 46.4% in 2012. According to the American College Health Association Fall 2018 National College Health Assessment, 63% of college students in the US felt overwhelming anxiety in the past year. “Sometimes studying is getting away from the studying — go for a walk, watch a movie, play with your dog, get away from it for a while,” Enos said. Anxiety during a test interferes with your ability to recall knowledge from memory as well as your ability to use higher-level thinking skills effectively. Anxiety in college students occurs for a variety of reasons and takes on many different forms including social anxiety, test anxiety, and even panic attacks. Take a moment to consider how much the test matters: unless your degree or acceptance into grad school rides on a single test, chances are you can recoup any losses from a less-than-great performance. In the same survey, 23% reported being diagnosed or treated by a mental health professional for anxiety in the past year. Here's what you can do to help your soon-to-be-university student prevent college-related anxiety. In addition to talking to your professor and/or student counselor about test anxiety, there are some ways to help you stay calm and focused come exam time. Simply understanding where a single test fits in the grand scheme of your life may be the most effective tactic to minimize test anxiety. Students can struggle with test anxiety … Bad study habits, poor past test performance, unrealistic expectations, and underlying anxiety problems can all contribute to test anxiety, which can take a major toll on your academic success. Although figures vary, it’s estimated that about 16 percent of college and high school students have high test anxiety and 18 percent have moderately high test anxiety, according to psychologist and author Richard Driscoll of the American Test Anxieties Association.. Anxiety has surpassed depression as the most common mental health diagnosis among college students, … Test anxiety mainly stems from the college student did not study for whatever test was being taken at the time. Managing Test Anxiety: Ideas for Students Jim Wright (www.interventioncentral.org) 4 to the test will improve the odds of doing his or her best on an examination and avoiding the ‘testing jitters.’ Take practice exams. 61% of high school students reported suffering from test anxiety at least some of the time, as many … What Is Test Anxiety? While test anxiety may be difficult for some college students, there are ways to cope, somewhat reduce the stress and possibly rid of it entirely.