For some students, the pre-test adrenaline rush is all too familiar &- sweaty palms and a racing pulse often obliterate weeks of memorized formulas, sonnets and other factoids.
About one to two students hit Boston University’s Educational Resource Center each week, complaining of “test anxiety,” said Virginia Schaffer, ERC’s assistant director.
Melissa Straz, who led ERC’s biannual test anxiety workshop Wednesday night, said there is a difference between normal stress and anxiety, defining the latter as a distinct feeling of fear from an often unidentifiable source. Symptoms can include dizziness, sweating and muscle tension.
“This gives me an opportunity to reach out to students in a group, and my goal would be to get people to come in and meet with us individually in the ERC from these workshops so that they can get a little more in depth,” she said.
Seven students attended the workshop, which focused largely on test preparation skills and relaxation techniques to decrease anxiety and increase confidence before and during exams. All seven attendees said they were uncomfortable commenting about their testing problems.
Schaffer said students are often too shy to even attend the workshops, but just workshop advertisements alone are enough to let students know the ERC can help them cope. She said students who see the ads often contact the ERC even if they don’t attend the workshops.
“We know that the workshop is not going to be the only way, but we throw it out there as a topic,” Schaffer said. “The workshop schedule is just about [making] sure people know that we talk about these things, and the workshop itself is the starter point.”
Straz said test anxiety can often be tough to pinpoint and cure, so the ERC may also refer students to the Office of Disability Services, Psychological Services Center or the Danielsen Institute and Behavioral Medicine at Student Health Services for further help.
ODS Director Lorraine Wolf said test anxiety is often part of a larger anxiety disorder that students may not recognize or want to address.
“I sometimes worry that people [with test anxiety] feel they can’t come forward,” she said.
Wolf said ODS cannot help students when their test anxiety stands alone as its own documented psychological disorder, meaning the student’s anxiety is solely limited to taking tests. In these cases, she either refers them to the Psychological Center for further testing or back to the ERC for coaching.
Danielsen Institute Executive Director George Stavros said the ERC is an effective starting point for students with test anxiety to get the help they need.
“We think very highly of the cooperative relationship we have with the ERC,” he said. “Our experience with [them] has been very good.”
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