How to Overcome Anxiety and "Bombing" on Tests

If you want to overcome test anxiety and bombing on important tests like the ACT test, you have to first realize what causes test anxiety in the first place. There are three main causes of test anxiety. Understanding them will help you do much better on the any test.

Psychological causes are the first problem leading to test anxiety. Whether it is being unprepared or past bad experiences, students go into the test defeated before they start. One key to defeating the tendency to bomb on tests is to understand that even if you guess on every single question, you'd still get a score of 14. Further understanding the key to having enough time to answer every single question, even with a guess, also goes a long way to defeat the psychological causes of test anxiety.

Physiological causes are the second culprit that contribute to test anxiety. The fact is that as we fear the test we tense up and breathe less. Both of these things hurt the brain's ability to be operating at peak efficiency. The fact is that the brain can use up to half the oxygen that we breathe in when we concentrate, and shallow breathing from being nervous starves our brain.

Poor study methods also contribute to test problems. When a student is primarily an auditory learner, who learns by listening, and has spent all his time studying like a visual learner, by just reading books, he has good reason to be nervous! Learning to study according to the style of learner you are is critical to having confidence going into the ACT test.

So if you want to overcome test anxiety that might cause you to bomb on the ACT test, keep in mind these three causes of bombing on tests and learn more by taking a good ACT test prep course that will teach you how to score your best on the ACT.