It’s the spooky season, but it’s not ghosts or witches that keep Andover students up at night: it’s finals. Midterms feel like yesterday, and it’s hard to believe we’re going into yet another week of rapid-fire procrastinating, studying, and testing. I still remember the burn of my heart in my chest, beating to the tick of the clock on testing day. I remember the sweat dripping down my face, my pencil slipping out of my palm, scribbling one last answer as I watched the students around me calmly rise. Oftentimes, I feel like the only one with this test-taking anxiety, and I catch myself wondering why it seems like some people are better at test-taking than others. I have found an answer: select students are just better at handling the stress of tests, which seem to be designed to prioritize speed and accuracy above all else.
Every student feels nervous when taking a test, but some students get more nervous than others. Even when I know the material, because of my test-taking anxiety, I freeze at a difficult question or forget everything I’ve learned as soon as the timer starts. At times, nervous test-takers like me can feel inadequate and unintelligent compared to their naturally confident peers. In a school where there is already a level of competition when it comes to grades and scores, seeing a peer furiously writing while I can’t find words can make me feel even more stressed in the moment.
Comparing myself to others is stressful, but it’s important to realize that some students take longer to test, whether they have a learning disability or not. The time it takes to answer a question in math, science, or language class can vary from person to person. At the beginning of the year, my math teacher kindly emphasized that speed does not measure mathematical ability. He even showed us a video debunking the idea of a “math person,” and fighting the stigma that comes with being a slow problem solver. But, in the subject of test-taking, this seems to be forgotten.
According to Jo Boaler, a Stanford Graduate School of Education professor and mathematician, deep understanding is far more important than speed in mathematics. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics agrees, as they say, “timed tests cause math anxiety.” Taking a math test, and studying for a math test, does help students reinforce the subjects they’ve learned in class. But timing the test adds a level of anxiety to the process and punishes slow problem solvers for being slow. It also penalizes students who are thorough; if one student shows all their work for a problem, which can take quite some time, while another student solves the same problem in their head, the answers could be the same, but the outcome of the test could be very different. The first student did not finish the test in time, while the second received full marks. Schools are increasingly learning that individualizing education is necessary to achieve the best outcome for every student. Tests, especially standardized ones, conform to the old strategy of putting children into boxes. In this case, the “fast” and “accurate” boxes are valued, while the “thorough” and “slow” ones are not. Now I admit, tests are evolving with the times. Take-home tests can greatly decrease the stress of a timed test, and the process of finding an answer is becoming just as important as finding the answer itself. But, in the field of testing, there is still a long way to go.
Test-taking is a skill. It may not be fun, and some struggle with it more than others, but learning how to take a test, and taking tests, is useful. Tests do not define your intelligence — no number, letter, or percentage does. So, as we leave the skeletons and vampires behind, let’s take this knowledge with us. Hopefully, then, tests won’t be so scary.
