New findings about test anxiety are providing a more nuanced understanding of how it affects performance on exams. So far, the response to students overly anxious about exams has been encouragement: “calm down” and “get yourself under control.” That’s been the advice offered by teachers and even noted testing organizations such as ACT. But it’s proven difficult to follow. Researchers now claim that it’s an “overly simplified model of how anxiety affects performance” (Brady et al., 2018, p. 395).
