An anxious brain can make children believe they aren’t ready to test, so when it comes to test taking, preparing emotionally can be just as important as preparing academically. Helping your child navigate test anxiety can be a powerful opportunity to boost your child’s confidence. In this article, we will walk you through ways to prepare an anxious test taker for our MAP Growth test and even make it fun!
What is Test Anxiety?
Test anxiety is a very normal, common response to testing that many homeschoolers struggle with. When your student feels anxious, their brain shifts into fight-or-flight mode. This stress response can make it harder to concentrate, recall information, and think clearly; all things that are important when getting an accurate picture of your student’s academic performance.
The good news is that these symptoms can be managed. With thoughtful preparation, your student can head into testing calm and prepared.
How Do I Combat My Homeschooler's Testing Anxiety?
Testing a homeschooler can be a stressful experience for you and your student, and the closer you are to the test, the more stressful it can feel. That is why preparation is key. Giving yourself time to feel prepared will help you and your kiddo feel calm and prepared in the days and weeks leading up to the test.
Below, we’ll walk you through steps that you can take in the months, weeks, and days leading up to your student’s test.
A Few Months Ahead:
Schedule Your Test in Advance
Pick a date and put it on the calendar. By scheduling your tests in advance, you can ensure that you and your student don’t have other commitments or distractions that might interrupt testing or cause undue pressure, adding to your student’s stress.
Don’t let summer learning loss get in your way! It can be very stressful for students with testing anxiety to take a large exam when returning from a learning break. On average, test scores flatten or drop during the summer and in early fall, with larger drops typically in math than reading. Testing requires a great deal of focus from students, which is a lot harder if that hasn’t been a part of your day-to-day rhythm over the summer months. Give your student time to get back into the rhythm of homeschooling if you are coming back from summer vacation and wait a few weeks before testing. Helping catch your students up on concepts that you covered at the end of your last learning cycle can help your student feel more prepared and confident.
Planning your test ahead of time will allow you to calculate out how much time you need to review content and get back into the rhythm of homeschooling so that students’ responses don’t only reflect summer learning loss. If you are taking MAP Growth, remember that it is normed by season: fall, winter, and spring. Each season compares students to grade-level peers at that point in the school year. Understanding this helps you plan your curriculum arc and schedule testing at a time that makes sense for your family. We generally recommend setting aside 2-3 days for testing.
One Week Before:
Avoid Surprising your Homeschooler with Testing
Giving your child a week or two of notice helps them to feel prepared and included. Mark your calendar or make a note in place that is visible for your child, and talk through what the test will look like and how it will work so they can step into MAP testing with a clear understanding of what to expect.
Keep Content Review Light
One of the greatest advantages of MAP Growth is that there is no need to study for it. Keep any content review light in the days leading up to the test so your child does not worry about testing “correctly”. Since the MAP Growth exam is meant to identify growth areas for your student, there is no right way to test and there isn’t a need to study ahead of time to prepare!
Get Technology Ready
Technology doesn’t have to be stressful! Review tech to-do list a few days in advance to avoid test day stressors.
After you’ve registered for an exam, an email will be sent to you a week in advance with important test-prep information. Reviewing setup instructions as soon as you receive them will help with any technical hiccups the day of.
Want to feel even more prepared? Check out our step-by-step set up guide here, where you can take a practice test to get a feel for how the tests are navigated, and make sure your device is approved for testing.
Set Expectations
Talk with your child in the weeks or days leading up to your test to set expectations together. The MAP Growth is designed to challenge all students. Because of this, your child will be asked questions they cannot yet answer correctly.
If your child is nervous about failing, talk it through with them. It can be helpful for the student to think of the test as a fun challenge, not a representation of who they are. The test adapts to the level that is providing the correct amount of challenge. By design, it is expected that students will answer 50% of their questions correctly and the other 50% incorrectly. If they get something wrong, this does not mean they are doing poorly on the test, it means the test is working!
Talking through testing scenarios can be helpful for anxious testers. Brainstorm together what they can do if they don’t know something and encourage them to think about the question, eliminate any obvious wrong answers and then take their best guess.
The most important thing for your child to know is that test day can be fun! If your student tries their best then they have succeeded.
Sleep
Sleep is one of the most important things you can do to prepare. If your child is nervous the night before the test try:
- A calming bedtime routine
- Bath
- Reading before bed
- Turning off screens an hour before bed
- Yoga
- Meditation
Nourish Your Body
You may have heard it before, but eating well and moving your body are essential for kids leading up to tests. Being in a regular rhythm of eating well, staying hydrated, and getting time to move their bodies in the days leading up to the test will help their brain be best prepared for the test.
Test Day:
Make Test Day Feel Special
- Prepare your students favorite (balanced) breakfast.
- Provide special ‘test day’ treats.
- Allow your student to pick out a fun pencil or eraser to use on the test.
- Provide snacks or ‘treats’ that students can grab while they test.
Set Up a Calming, Distraction Free Room
- Less noise and distraction allows your to student relax into the flow of the test. Create a calm, distraction-free space. If quiet focus is not typical in your home, practice that setup beforehand so it feels normal.
Ask for Help
- Setting up the MAP test shouldn’t be a headache. We are here to make sure you are supported at every step of your child’s test. Learn more about how we can support you here.
Take breaks
It may sound unintuitive, but walking away from a test can actually help your student during exams. Moving more is good for your brain and helps improve mood, memory, and focus. This is an untimed test, so no need to feel pressure!
- Get outside
- Dance
- Play some fun games (hide and seek, tag)
- Jumping jacks
- Go on a walk
Debrief After the Test
After the test, get curious together. Talk with your student about how testing felt, and ask your child if there were any topics on the test they’d like to know more about.
Congratulate them on their hard work, and do something special to celebrate their test day together!