Maybe you’ve noticed the shaky hands, the nervous fidgeting, and the overall vibe of the room shift when talking about upcoming tests. Whether you’re an AP teacher preparing students for the AP exam or a school administrator mentioning standardized testing, you can see the impact of test anxiety on student wellness. While you likely cannot eliminate anxiety and standardized testing, you can provide students with tools to rise above the stress of testing (and for other life stressors). While we cannot hold students’ hands through the process (no matter how many times they slip up and call us “mom” or “dad”), we can empower students to thrive interdependently — leading to collective success. Let’s discuss five practical, actionable strategies that harness lasting self regulation skills for students.
Strategy 1: The Test Anxiety Symptom-Identification Protocol
Is it possible to identify the symptoms of test anxiety? Yes, and helping students recognize their personal “stress fingerprint,” become aware of it, and then transform it is the first step toward self-management.
Actionable Strategy: The ‘Tally and Track’ Method
Teacher’s role: Observe and teach students to recognize common signs of test anxiety (physical, emotional, behavioral):
- Increased heart rate and palpitations
- Sweating
- Shortness of breath
- Headache
- Nausea
- Muscle tension
- Dry mouth
- Procrastination and avoidance
- Restlessness and fidgeting
- Difficulty sleeping
- Poor test preparation
- Fear of failure
- Comparing oneself to others
- Feeling inadequate
Student’s role: Before a low-stakes quiz or test prep, students note when they feel symptoms (e.g., stomach flutter, mind going blank). Students can either choose to share this information with the teacher or not. This data helps a teacher help students with testing anxiety by recognizing their personal symptoms.
Strategy 2: Shifting Mindset with Low-Stakes Exposure
Systematically reduce stress before exam day by decoupling assessment from extreme pressure, which is essential for tackling standardized test anxiety.
Actionable Strategy: Intentional Low-Stakes Practice
- Implement frequent, short, low-stakes practice sessions using formats similar to the standardized tests, like practice tests!
- Focus post-assessment discussion on the process and effort, not solely on the score. This embeds growth mindset test prep by teaching students that assessment is simply a diagnostic tool.
Strategy 3: Teaching Micro-Moment Mindfulness in the Classroom
Provide a concrete, internal tool students can use in the moment of panic—a core element of how to overcome test anxiety.
Actionable Strategy: The 60-Second Reset
- Teach one specific, silent breathing or grounding exercise (e.g., the 4-7-8 method, or 5-4-3-2-1 grounding).
- Model and practice a “pencil down, hands under desk, recenter, reset” routine so it becomes an automatic response during standardized test anxiety. Students can take this routine and make it their own. Personalization is a key element of how to teach to overcome test anxiety.
Strategy #4: Controlled Review (Predict-Recall-Connect)
Students with test anxiety often feel overwhelmed. They see their knowledge base as vast and disorganized, which triggers the ‘mind blank’ during the test because they lack structured retrieval practice.
Actionable Strategy: The 10-Minute Confidence Builder
Implement this short routine at the start of the class period before any major test or practice assessment, which provides a direct method for teacher help students with testing anxiety.
- Phase 1: Predict (3 mins): Students review their study materials (notes, flashcards, textbook chapter titles) and predict the three most likely and three most challenging questions that will appear on the exam.
- Phase 2: Recall (5 mins): Students close their materials and spend five minutes writing down everything they can recall about those six predicted items, shifting focus from content input to skill output.
- Phase 3: Connect (2 mins): Students open their materials for a two-minute “fact check.” Seeing that they did remember the key concepts provides an immediate confidence boost, counteracting the fear of forgetting.
This targeted, low-pressure review reinforces the idea that knowledge is accessible under pressure, which is a critical self regulation skill for students and a practical element of how to overcome test anxiety.
Cultivating Independence
These five strategies shift the focus from performance anxiety to personal mastery, ensuring that teacher help students with testing anxiety is constructive and empowering.
A great gift we can give our students is not a perfect score, but the self regulation skills for students to manage their test anxiety long after they leave our classroom. Looking for test prep to integrate into the classroom to reduce test anxiety? Peterson’s Prep Advantage has your back.
