Test anxiety comes in just under fear of public speaking for most people. It can be a dreadful thing, debilitating, frightening, and a cause for despair. That’s right. It’s not trivial, it’s serious. It is, however, correctable.
Test anxiety has two components. One is emotional. It is a felt thing, and may be rational, or not. Two, it is directly related to how well prepared we are for this test. By far the more controlling element is the second one, how well prepared we are for the test.
Most of us have experienced the frustration, humiliation, and disappointment of turning in a poor score and failing on something. That goes a long way. And unless you’re some kind of genius, it’s bound to happen sooner or later. One day you are going to attempt something and fail at it. Perhaps more than just one day. Apparently Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, and one of the most famous and influential in history, failed miserably at a dozen things in his life prior to becoming president - businesses, political campaigns, finance, a nervous breakdown even. It happens.But that aside, on any given test, we have a lot of control. Usually we know far enough in advance to really prepare for it if we choose to do so. It’s a lot of work, and frankly, sometimes we just don’t. People are people, with all the issues of life, and on any given day or month, we may not have our "A" game with us.
But if we’re serious about it-or about test anxiety-there is a solution. It sounds so simple to say it, but the answer is to be well prepared. One thing we have also experienced, usually, is the pride and excitement of having taken a test and knowing we aced it. When that happens, we feel like a million dollars and can’t wait to get back the results. I once wore a chemistry test pinned to the front of my shirt for the rest of the day in college. Everyone who saw that smiled–they knew how I felt.
Test anxiety is not a mystery, not a genetic thing, and certainly not inevitable. It is a direct result of legitimate worry that we’re going to do poorly. Usually, we have good reason to worry – we know that we’re not well prepared. The cure is simple: be well prepared. So why don’t we all do that?
There are a couple of psychological reasons that are mostly common sense. Sometimes we just have too much else going on in our lives. It can be aggravating to have to do all that work, or we may find it aggravating to be in a position of being judged, needing someone else’s approval, having to jump through the hoops. Sometimes that can set up so much irritation in us that we just refuse, knowingly or not, to subject ourselves to it. And that’s fine, sort of. But then on test day, we’re anxious because we know we’re not well prepared.
We also know when we are well prepared. And the effects of that are striking. It’s like having someone enter into a bet with you when you know you are going to win. Not “think” you are going to win, but “know.” And you’re right. And you do. No test anxiety there.
Where people get into trouble with test anxiety is when they forget the link between being well prepared and the worry that goes with it if you’re not. They tend to think of the anxiety as some independent thing, like a medical or psychological condition. It’s not at all. It’s a perfectly rational, reasonable, predictable, and accurate response to not being well prepared.
So the cause and the cure of test anxiety is preparedness. If you are well prepared you don’t have it. If you are not, then you do. Simple as that. Simple does not necessarily mean easy, but it is simple.
The two important things to remember are:
- This is not some free-floating psychological problem, though it may appear that way.
- It is absolutely accessible by your level of preparedness. You can absolutely fix this.
It may be news to many that you can be well prepared. Many people think of tests as some kind of force in nature, something you can’t prepare for and just have to endure, like a hurricane. But that’s not right. You can prepare. For good instruction on that exact thing, how to prepare effectively, see the Firehouse articles How to Study for the Written Exam, and 6 Tips to Prepare for the Assessment Center.
This is both good news and bad news. On the one hand, you can indeed tame test anxiety. On the other hand, as usual, it means a lot of work. You may elect to do it or not, this time or next.
But the take-away lesson is this: Test anxiety is nothing more and nothing less than your appropriate response to how well prepared you are – and that is in your control.
HENRY MORSE, BA, MA, BA, NFPA Instructor Level IV, is the president of Fire Service Testing Company, Inc., which tests emergency services jurisdictions across North America for entry and promotion of personnel. Author of a number of books, including Emergency Services Personnel Testing Practices (2013), Preparing for Emergency Services Testing (2005), and others, he is a member of the NFPA 1001 Technical Committee and speaks on these topics and others related to testing and communication.
