A big fact of life for so many students is the pressure they feel in taking major tests.
For most students, this feeling of pressure results in lower scores.
Some students are so worried about testing that they freeze up in advance and won’t even begin to prepare. Some students who perform well in school all year start to perform poorly as the date of the big test approaches—or they suddenly freeze up on test day. And when they see the disappointing scores, they blame themselves.
The feelings of frustration and regret remain and often make future test-taking experiences even worse.
For many sympathetic adults, the proper response to the pain young people feel, is to abolish tests altogether. Instead, I think we serve young people better by equipping them with skills to help them handle pressure, because these skills serve them throughout life.
Much Smarter helps young people develop successful habits of thinking, feeling and learning that equip them to handle pressure. These habits help students shift their focus away from the score and onto the actual practice—in effect, to focus on WHAT they’re doing rather than HOW WELL they’re doing.
When the student focuses solely on each step they are taking, their exam experience can become productive and stress-free.
And here’s a significant bonus: often, when the student learns to let go of the excess pressure, they are better able to focus on the task at hand—and their scores rise!
When students learn to let go of the excess pressure, the great score is a by-product of great practice.
