- SITUATION: #TestAnxiety plagues an estimated 40% to 60% of students, negatively impacting standardized test outcomes by up to 12 percentile points. That means a genuine 95th percentile student could end up scoring in the 83rd percentile due to #TestAnxiety.
- #TestAnxiety:?
- …is a distressing, potentially debilitating emotional state or condition marked by feelings of overwhelming tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry before, during, or after a test that can lead to mental distraction, memory impairment, negative cognitive assessment, and ultimately the acute decline of academic performance.
- …is marked by uncontrollable physiological manifestations of increased blood pressure, rapid heart rate with palpitations and tachycardia, sweating, mouth dryness, nausea, dizziness, hyperventilation, “going blank,” tremors, and weakness.
- …may increase in physiological manifestations with increased difficulty of the exam and thus increased threat to the student, along with increased importance of the consequences attendant upon successful performance.
- Students suffering from this debilitating anxiety may start to exhibit symptoms as early as 5 years old.? Many students will suffer needlessly from #TestAnxiety for the rest of their lives, resigned to the belief that #TestAnxiety is a life sentence.
- COMPLICATION:? Rightly or wrongly, SATs/ACTs provide a critical data point for undergrad admissions committee decisions: in the last year, MIT, Yale, Georgetown, and Dartmouth decisively rescinded their “test optional” admissions policies, with more institutions surely to follow.??
- Yet the higher ed ecosystem (colleges, professors, tutors, test writers, admissions counselors, test prep courses) are fully complicit in turning a blind eye to this #TestAnxiety epidemic by promoting:
- ...brute force "traditional" test prep: rote memorization and repetitive verbal/quant drills through courses offered by Kaplan and Princeton Review.
- ...motherly scolding: "Get plenty of sleep," "Get some exercise," and "Learn relaxation techniques." (Mayo Clinic)
- ...hapless superstitions, rituals, and incantations: “View the test as a game," and "Recite a positive academic affirmation in your head.” ?(Harvard Academic Resource Center)
- RESOLUTION:?#InvictaMentis disrupts #TestAnxiety by preparing students for elite performance on the SAT and ACT through #GrowthMindset, #Resilience, #MentalToughness, and #MentalPerseverance training.
- We prepare our students to deliver elite performance on standardized college entrance exams by training the same proven performance science that elite pro athletes, business leaders, performing artists, and military warfighters employ to deliver elite performance when it matters most: on the soccer pitch, in the boardroom, on the live stage, or on the kinetic battlefield.
- Learn more about #InvictaMentis and how we are disrupting #TestAnxiety at www.InvictaMentis.com
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