My tutoring student was doing an excellent job in our tutoring sessions and answering the questions so effectively that I almost couldn’t believe it when she told me that her test results weren’t what she had hoped for.
She opened up about feeling overwhelmed by the test and freezing up. I could hear the frustration in her voice.
It’s not uncommon. I’ve worked with students of many different ages. And I’ve seen this occur for students from 2nd grade to 12th grade. Yes, students at any age can feel anxious about math.
It can take hold of kids at a young age. Students can feel the pressure of failure during a test and worry about getting the answer right. They can rush through it to get it over with. Or they can blank out over problems that they have diligently practiced.
And even sometimes parents or teachers unknowingly pass on their own anxieties about math to their students.
To combat this anxiousness, there are some methods that we have used in our tutoring lessons to reduce math anxiety during tests.
1. Create memory cues that will help them remember formulas. Write down these cues at the top of a page before beginning.
2. Before starting the test or doing homework, write down important formulas that you will need to use.
3. Practice talking through strategies for solving problems.
4. Do fun math activities at home. Make it part of your bedtime routine, just like you do with reading.
5. Work through tough problems together and show that it’s okay to let your children know if you don’t know the answer. In fact, focus on the journey of working through wrong answers. When you model how to respond when you don’t know something, it also helps reduce their anxiety.
6. Work through short sets of timed quizzes of 3-5 minutes and give plenty of time for students to work through the problem. Then slowly reduce the time for problems that they are comfortable with
7. Provide a stress ball and work on breathing exercises to help them to focus and stay calm as they take the test.
If your children aren’t talking much about their anxiety but you think that they may be anxious, here are some additional resources that may be helpful:
1. Resources about Math Anxiety
2. Helping kids with Math Anxiety
