CHICAGO, Illinois. If you get nervous when you take tests, try writing about what you're feeling. A new study found that students who spend 10 minutes before an exam writing about their thoughts and feelings can free up brain power previously occupied by testing worries. This can help students do their best work. Psychologists, educators, and parents have known for a long time that a score on a test does not necessarily indicate how much a student knows. Anxiety can have a major impact on test results. Why? Researchers believe that worrying competes for power in the brain's "working," or short-term, memory. If working memory is focused on worrying, it can't help a person recall all the information the brain stored while preparing for the test. Anxiety also affects the working memory's ability to stay focused.

The study was done by researchers at the University of Chicago. They hypothesized that reduced anxiety might improve students' test scores.

"We essentially got rid of this relationship between test anxiety and performance," said Sian L. Beilock. Beilock works at the University of Chicago as an associate professor of psychology. Beilock co-authored the study with graduate student Gerardo Ramirez.

Beilock said that the idea for the writing exercise came from previous research showing how writing can affect a person's state of mind. There are different kinds of writing. Not every type will work. But expressive writing, in which people commit their feelings to paper, can be effective. Experts know, for example, that writing repeatedly about a traumatic or emotional experience over several weeks or months can decrease worrying. Can this same idea be used in a test-taking situation?

The answer appears to be yes. Beilock and Ramirez found that high school students who commonly felt anxious before a test improved their test grades by nearly one grade point—from a B-minus to a B-plus, for example—if they were given 10 minutes before an exam to write about their feelings. This was true with students who were tested in a laboratory setting and with those who were tested in a classroom.

Beilock believes this research can be applied to situations beyond the classroom. People of all ages might benefit from using expressive writing to reduce many kinds of performance anxiety—from giving a speech to interviewing for a job.

"There's a lot we can do to change how we think about...pressures and thus how we perform," Beilock said.

Beilock recommends that parents and teachers start using the writing exercises right away. They don't require a lot of time, money, resources, or training.

"There's a lot of pressure put on students to perform at high levels. Parents and teachers can do a lot to either increase or decrease the pressure [students] feel," she said.

Questions:
Researchers found that writing about your thoughts and feelings will help you manage test anxiety. They found that writing can affect a person’s state of mind. What do you think?

Why is anxiety thought to have a significant impact on test results?

How do you feel when you have to take a test?