From Anxiety to Achievement: How Formative Learning Assignments Empower Students

For me, it was the Blue Book. The moment that small composition notebook landed on my desk, its daunting blankness made my chest constrict. Under the pressure of a ticking clock, without time to let my mind wander or gather my thoughts, I struggled to produce my best writing in the confines of a classroom.

Test anxiety is a pervasive and growing challenge in education, affecting up to 40% of students and significantly impairing their academic performance and mental health (Mayo Clinic, 2025). More than just nervousness, it manifests as cognitive, affective, and behavioral symptoms — such as difficulty concentrating, negative self-talk, and a racing heartbeat — that overwhelm students’ cognitive resources and leave them unprepared for high-stakes exams (UNC Learning Center, n.d.).

How can educators help students address this issue? Research aligns with my experience: repeated, guided practice in low-stakes environments helps students build confidence and perform better under pressure. My own Blue Book anxiety was greatly reduced when I entered a journalism program that demanded I regularly engage in “deadline assignments” in which students were tasked with a surprise reporting assignment on entering the classroom. We had a specific timeframe in which to ask our source (the instructor) any questions, followed by 20–30 minutes to generate a complete article. The rest of the class was dedicated to instructor and peer feedback. Practicing writing under a tight deadline, knowing that I’d make mistakes and learn from them without significant negative impact, helped give me the confidence to write better under the pressure of testing environments.?

This type of practice is what we call a formative learning activity. The integration of formative learning assignments — iterative activities that allow students to practice, fail, and receive feedback in a low-stakes environment — is a solution that we're increasing our use of at Stukent , and it’s a solution that all educators should consider. Focusing student efforts on these assignments not only enhances academic achievement but also fosters a supportive environment that helps them better manage the cognitive demands of learning.

The Impact of Test Anxiety

Test anxiety disrupts learning and performance by impairing key cognitive processes. According to cognitive learning theory, the brain processes new information through working memory — a limited-capacity system responsible for temporarily holding and manipulating information (Baddeley, 2003). When anxiety strikes, the additional cognitive demands from intrusive thoughts reduce the resources available for tasks requiring problem-solving, logical reasoning, or memory recall (Eysenck et al., 2007).

This phenomenon, known as cognitive interference, is defined as the presence of unpleasant thoughts and worries that consume attentional resources, reducing the brain’s capacity to focus on the task at hand (M?cklinghoff et al., 2021). For example, students might ruminate on their perceived inadequacies (“I’m going to fail” or “I don’t belong here”), which competes for the working memory space needed to process test-related information (Sweller, 1988; Mu?oz et al., 2024). Even well-prepared students may struggle to perform when their cognitive capacity is overwhelmed by stress.

Formative learning assignments help alleviate these effects by providing guided practice and repeated exposure to key concepts in low-pressure settings. Aligned with constructivist learning theory (Vygotsky, 1978), formative learning fosters active engagement and focuses on schema construction — the process of organizing new information into existing mental frameworks for better understanding and retrieval (Anderson & Pearson, 1984). This shift from an evaluation-focus to mastery-oriented practice helps students overcome cognitive interference and focus on learning material rather than simply performing.

Why Formative Assignments Work

Formative assignments provide a structured environment where students can build mastery over time. Unlike summative assessments, which evaluate performance at the end of a learning cycle, formative assignments focus on learning as a process. By engaging deeply and repeatedly with spaced practice, students reinforce their understanding and reduce the cognitive load associated with high-pressure situations.

In Stukent’s Ecosystem of Assignments & Assessments, activities like Check Your Understanding, Strengthen Your Skills, and Simternships?, provide structured opportunities for students to practice and apply their knowledge incrementally, building their confidence before they’re assessed.

Feedback as a Tool for Anxiety Management

Feedback is a cornerstone of effective formative assignments. Research shows that timely, constructive feedback not only enhances learning outcomes but also reduces anxiety by reframing mistakes as opportunities for growth (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). The Mayo Clinic (2025) highlights the importance of feedback in countering negative self-talk, a common symptom of test anxiety.

Stukent’s in-development approach incorporates a scaffolded model of feedback, offering increasingly detailed guidance as students demonstrate the need for support. By contextualizing correct and incorrect answers through narrative, this feedback helps students make personal connections that reinforce schema construction and support long-term retention.

Practical Benefits for Students and Educators

The benefits of formative assignments extend beyond anxiety reduction. For students, these activities provide a safe space to experiment, fail, and learn without the consequences of traditional assessments. This iterative practice fosters confidence, resilience, and adaptability, which are essential traits for success in both education and the workplace. By engaging in feedback-rich learning environments, students develop critical thinking and self-regulation skills that enhance both academic performance and employability (Hattie & Timperley, 2007; UNC Learning Center, n.d.).

For educators, formative assignments reduce grading burdens while maintaining instructional rigor. Assignments like Stukent’s Strengthen Your Skills provide automated, actionable feedback at scale, allowing educators to focus on personalized teaching strategies and deeper learning connections. Moreover, these assignments indirectly help alleviate the effects of test anxiety by encouraging mindfulness and self-regulation through iterative practice (Mayo Clinic, 2025; Mu?oz et al., 2024). In doing so, educators can create classrooms that support academic success, professional skill-building, and overall student well-being.

Building a Better Balance

Many would argue that an ideal educational system is one in which students are never burdened by the anxiety of summative assessments. However, the reality of the current higher education landscape (for the most part) demands traditional evaluation and grading. While we may not be able to eliminate summative assessments entirely, increasing the focus on formative learning is a significant step forward. By emphasizing guided practice, detailed feedback, and low-stakes opportunities for learning, formative assignments help bridge the gap between the pressures of assessment and the pursuit of meaningful knowledge.

Take the first step toward transforming student experiences by integrating more formative learning strategies into your curricula. Explore tools like Stukent’s E3 Learning Experience to create meaningful, student-centered learning opportunities today.

References

Anderson, R. C., & Pearson, P. D. (1984). A schema-theoretic view of basic processes in reading comprehension. In P. D. Pearson (Ed.), Handbook of Reading Research (pp. 255–291). Longman.

Baddeley, A. (2003). Working memory: Looking back and looking forward. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4(10), 829–839. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1201?

Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion, 7(2), 336–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.336?

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487?

Mayo Clinic. (2025). Test anxiety: Expert answers. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/generalized-anxiety-disorder/expert-answers/test-anxiety/faq-20058195?

M?cklinghoff, S., Rapoport, O., Heckel, C., Messerschmidt-Grandi, C., & Ringeisen, T. (2021). Latent profiles of test anxiety: Considering its multi-faceted structure. International Journal of Educational Research, 110, 101882. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2021.101882?

Mu?oz, D., Sánchez, J., Hernández, J. V., & Fernández, R. (2024). Emotions in learning environments: Exploring their influence on cognitive processes and academic performance. Education Sciences, 14(8), 870. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080870?

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem-solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4?

UNC Learning Center. (n.d.). Tackling test anxiety. Retrieved from https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/tackling-test-anxiety/?

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

Transparency in Collaboration

In writing this article, I used generative AI as an editorial partner to streamline language and polish presentation. However, the main narrative, ideas, analysis, research, and perspectives are uniquely mine, reflecting my extensive work in instructional design and dedication to transformative learning.