Does your teenager get anxious on big tests, like the SAT and ACT?
Do they do OK in the classroom, OK in practice, and then fall flat come test day?
And if they take the big test again, does the cycle repeat?
Your teenager can turn this challenge into an opportunity for success – not just on the SAT, but for life!
Consider Meghan, a former student of ours at Much Smarter.
Meghan is an excellent, highly motivated, and highly capable student. She does well in other aspects of her life too: sports, social.
What Meghan struggled with is pressure.
She is from a family that sends its children to top ivy league colleges.
And while this expectation was never spoken, it was silently understood that Meghan would apply to top ivy league colleges and only to top ivy league colleges.
The pressure was always there, but Meghan's test anxiety did not reveal itself until she actually took the SAT.
She had practiced beautifully, scoring in the 98th percentile on practice tests.
(In other words, her practice score was better than the scores of 98% of the people taking the SAT).
But when Meghan took the SA, she scored in the 75th percentile -- well below what she was scoring on her practice tests and well below what she needed in order to get into her desired colleges.
She was downhearted at the result but returned to practice.
Then, a few weeks later, she took the sat again -- 75th percentile again.
Not even close to what she wanted or needed.
She was crushed.
With tears in her eyes, she asked, "what's wrong with me?"
Does Meghan's situation feel at all familiar to you?
If so, you may be feeling some of the same frustration that Meghan did.
But let's see how Meghan learned to handle pressure.
She began by approaching the sat / act as a game.
She stopped seeing it as a reflection of her intelligence or value
She stopped seeing it as a matter of life or death..
And began seeing it as simply a game of skill that she could practice and play.
She found that, regardless of family expectations, applying to top schools was her choice and decided to continue on that track.
She learned that her "test anxiety" did not reflect any shortcoming on her part, and that handling pressure was simply a skill for her to learn.
And learn it she did.
She stayed in the game, took several attempts at the SAT and ACT, learned to focus on her game, and let go of the outcome.
In the end, her ACT score reflected her true ability, and was high enough that she was able to get into one of the top three ivy league schools.
Even more important:
In her training Meghan learned what it takes to master any new game.
So this success put her on the path to mastering all the games of her life.
in the next and last part of this article, we’ll take a full look at the bigger opportunity that arises for your teenager when they face and master the challenge of test anxiety.
