Thursday 28 June 2012

Tips for Reducing Anxiety before Math Exam

Mathematics has always been a dreaded subject for most students. In solving a mathematical problem, a child needs to apply his analytical reasoning to find out the solution. The methodical process of arriving at the answer may provide considerable stress and anxiety to the student, especially during the examination, as there is added pressure and time constraint. 

This exam anxiety further has a tendency to reduce the focus and clarity. It also causes physical discomfort to students, which prevents them from putting in extra efforts in performing the test. You need to be confident to solve math problems. Anxiety as often leads to self doubt. If self doubt arises, it becomes much harder to find the right answer. 

What Can Be Done?

Exam anxiety is a tricky thing to empower. It is difficult to ask a child to avoid anxiety, if he is struggling to solve a problem. Clearly, the best way for overcoming anxiety is to study and prepare beforehand. The more the student practices problem-solving, the less intimidating the problem becomes.

However, there are certain strategies that teachers and parents can teach for reducing the math test anxiety: 
  
Test Yourself Before the Final Exam 

Every student must test himself before appearing for the finals. This will not only give him an idea of how much he needs to study, but will also make him aware of his strengths and weaknesses.

Clarify your Doubts 

Once the student is aware of his weaknesses and the topics that seem difficult to him, he should not delay it further and must right away discuss it with his teacher. It will reduce his nervousness regarding that subject or topic. It will also give him an idea, if he needs to devote some extra time on the concept. 

Create a Strategy for Cracking the Exam 

Every student needs to devise a strategy to be successful in exam. Most children appear for exams with no prior strategy to attempt the question. Generally, when they struggle with a problem during an exam, they get nervous and have no idea what to do next. One of the suggestions is when one gets stuck with one problem. He must leave it and move on to the next one and come back to it later on. 

Try Relaxation Techniques 

Every student must be aware of some techniques to reduce his stress during examination. It’s generally harder to get children to adopt relaxation exercises, as they are not receptive as adults in performing   deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation. But once they are able to imbibe in their life, these relaxation techniques decrease their exam pressure completely.