Exams and AD/HD

Have you ever helped your child study for an exam, and felt confident when you sent them off to school the next day that they were prepared, only to get the exam results back in a day or so to find out that they’d failed?

If this is a fairly common event in your household, you might want to consider the possibility that your child has test anxiety. A person who has it is typically prepared for the material on the exam, but as soon as the testing begins, their mind seems to go blank. They get nervous and worried, and have to struggle to remember things they knew only minutes or hours ago. Often, once the class is over, they recall test questions and their answers with ease.

If you have a chld with Attention Deficit Disorder, and the professional who did the diagnosis noted that test anxiety was a co-existing condtion, then you can ask for accommodations to help minimize the anxiety. These would include allowing extra time to take the test, or changing the test location. Exactly which accommodations are appropriate is up to the person who evaluated your child.

If someone like a pediatrician diagnosed AD/HD in your child, you may not have such detailed information. However, there are still things you can do to help with test anxiety, and in fact, they are helpful for those with accommodations as well.

Here they are:

Spend classtime before the exam away from the rest of the students, or at least with friends who agree not to discuss the coming test. If there is nervous tension among other students, it will only make matters worse. Also, students tend to discuss the upcoming exam, using the time as a last minute study session. If the material they are discussing is different from what you have studied, or believe to be true, it will cast doubt in your mind, even though it is just as possible that they are wrong.

When you first get the exam, do a very quick read through to get an idea of what covered, then prepare to go back and start answering questions.

Do not answer questions in order. Glance through the test until you find a question that you are sure about. Answer it, being careful to put your answer in the correct spot on the answer sheet. Continue looking for these types of questions until you have answered every question that you are confident about. This tactic does several things: it boosts your confidence level and relaxes you, it increases your chances of passing the test, and it may trigger answers for some of the questions you were not certain about.

Once you have answered all the questions you know, go back and do the rest in order.

If you feel yourself starting to get nervous or panic, take a quick 60 second break. Close your eyes and try to relax, or look directly up at the ceiling for a few seconds, and then roll your shoulders and neck in order to relax them. Take a few deep breaths to calm down and then resume the exam.

Try preparing for the exam as far in advance as you can. In addition to studying, learn to visualize yourself taking the exam. See yourself as being relaxed and confident, and then visualize yourself getting the exam back with an “A”. When you visualize this, put as much detail in as possible. Feel the seat of the chair beneath you, and the desktop under your arms. Hear the sound of your pencil on the paper. The more realistic you make it, the more your chances of success. When you are in the real situation, your body will automatically relax, because it has done it so many times before. This is a real technique that works if you give it a try. It’s especially popular among professional athletes, including Tiger Woods.

Finally, pack some peppermints with you for the exam. Try to get the real ones, not the ones that are mostly sugar. There is evidence that peppermint helps keep the brain alert and focused, and that can do nothing but help

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