Teaching Test Taking Skills
Study Skills 101: Coping with Test Anxiety Using Reading Strategies
Oct 4, 2007
When at least half of those thirty five students who were motivated by previous lessons, suddenly complain they have test anxiety and can't do the test, you as a new teacher probably feel you missed a certain step. The fact is that test taking is a big part of grade assessment and is a big part of school life. This is where study skills can become a teacher and student's best friend.
What are Study Skills?
Study skills are those self-initiated or formally taught habits that promote better learning. When applied well, study skills can promote a higher level of self-awareness against anxiety where student feel threatened. Some common study skills include taking notes, finding new ways to learn vocabulary and learning how to divide a student's time between tasks. In essence, many of these study skills, can also be classified as life-skills as they emphasize the element of finding alternate ways to deal with a problem.
Real Test Anxiety
When students look at the text in front of them, they may begin to panic and some may even experience more intense levels of anxiety before a test. While a certain degree of test anxiety can help student use their time more efficiently, too much anxiety, however, can have adverse effects. The following reading strategies may assist educators, students and parents as both a learning and study skill.
Reading Strategies During a Lesson: Finding Key Information
- When explaining the text and its corresponding questions, encourage students to reread, when necessary, the parts of a passage needed for selecting the correct answer. Use think-aloud strategies whenever possible.
- One reading strategy could be: jumping to another part of the text or question that could help the student find the answer.
- If a student doesn't understand, try and try again. Sometimes the comprehension breaks down when students are under pressure.
- Zoom in on a specific gray area of a text. Is the issue a word, phrase, a sentence within a text? Encourage other tools for coping such as dictionary use (if allowed) as well as note taking.
Use Reading Strategies During Test Taking
In addition to applying explicitly taught reading strategies, other more general reading strategies can be instructed as well such as:
- Read and pay careful attention to all directions and instructions.
- Read each passage and accompanying questions.
- Read and respond to items one at a time rather than thinking about the whole test.
- Don't make uneducated guesses. Try to get the correct answer by reading and eliminating wrong answers.
- Decide exactly what the question is asking. Encourage dictionary use if allowed
Final Words: Teacher Strategies for Reducing Test Anxiety
Every test should be viewed as a learning experience for both teacher and student. Tests should not threaten a student's self-esteem or be the sole criteria for giving a grade. In addition to following effective administrative methods for reducing test anxiety, here are a few others:
- Don't spend too much time on any one question.
- Skip difficult questions until all other questions have been answered. On a piece of scrap paper, keep a record of all the unanswered items to return to, if time permits.
- Only change an answer if you are sure the first one you picked was wrong.
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