Master test stress with six science-backed strategies

Strategies to master test anxiety

Heart racing. Thoughts spiraling. The clock ticking louder with every question.

For many students, test anxiety, not a lack of knowledge, is the biggest obstacle standing between them and their best score. High-stakes exams like the SAT and ACT can trigger intense stress that interferes with memory, focus, and confidence, even for well-prepared students.

The good news: anxiety doesn’t have to control your performance. With the right mindset and evidence-based strategies, students can learn how to manage test anxiety, stay calm under pressure, and perform more consistently on exam day.

This article explores practical, research-backed test anxiety strategies you can use before and during exams to turn stress into focus and preparation into confidence.

Key principles

• Anxiety isn’t a personal failing: it’s a natural, even useful, response to high-stakes testing that can be managed, not erased.
• By facing stress directly, you can transform testing from a source of fear into an opportunity to demonstrate self-control and personal growth.
• Success on a test isn’t just about what you know: it’s about the way you manage your routine and recover from setbacks.
• Personalized test survival cards help students pace themselves thoughtfully, bridging the gap between knowledge and performance.
• Old habits like quickly re-reading questions or trying to double-check every answer might feel reassuring, but rarely improve your score.
• Realistic practice transforms nerves into confidence and strategies into automatic responses.

Understanding test anxiety

For many students, the hardest part of a standardized test isn’t the content: it’s the stress that comes with it. Exams like the SAT and ACT still carry significant weight in admissions, and test anxiety is increasingly common among students of all backgrounds.

Research in educational psychology suggests that roughly 20-40% of students experience moderate to high levels of anxiety during exams. This anxiety can disrupt working memory, slow processing speed, and negatively impact performance, even when students are familiar with the material.

At its core, test anxiety is a natural response to evaluation and uncertainty. In moderate amounts, stress can sharpen focus and increase alertness. But when anxiety becomes overwhelming, it clouds judgment and makes problem-solving harder.

Importantly, anxiety is not a flaw or a reflection of intelligence. Viewing anxiety as something to manage, rather than eliminate, opens the door to meaningful solutions. When students normalize stress, practice coping strategies, and build resilience, test preparation becomes more effective and sustainable.

Rather than aiming to feel perfectly calm, focus on understanding how anxiety shows up for you and learning tools to stay grounded when it does. This shift leads to steadier performance under pressure.

Proactive tactics for test stress

Managing test stress requires more than last-minute reassurance. It depends on practical strategies practiced consistently before and during the exam.

Grounding techniques

Grounding techniques help anchor your attention in the present moment. One common exercise involves identifying:

• Five things you can see
• Four things you can touch
• Three things you can hear
• Two things you can smell
• One thing you can taste

These techniques, often used in cognitive behavioral therapy, redirect your focus away from anxious thoughts and toward physical sensations, helping calm the nervous system.

Pre-test routines

Pre-test routines provide structure and a sense of control. These routines might include:

• Laying out supplies the night before
• Repeating a calming phrase
• Following a consistent checklist

Predictable rituals signal to your brain that it’s time to focus. The most effective routines are personal: experiment to find what helps you feel composed and ready.

Physical distractions

Simple physical actions can interrupt anxiety mid-test. Try:

• Slow, deep breathing
• Briefly tensing and relaxing muscles
• Rolling your shoulders or stretching your hands

These quick resets reduce physical tension and help restore concentration when stress spikes.

Practiced regularly, these strategies become easier to use under pressure.

Test-day routines and handling setbacks

On test day, success depends not only on preparation but on routine and recovery. Use these strategies to stay steady:

• Stick with your routine. Follow your usual morning habits and eat familiar foods. Consistency reduces unnecessary stress and preserves mental energy.
• Prepare for hiccups. Unexpected challenges (difficult questions, fatigue, or distractions) are normal. Use if-then planning (for example, “If I freeze, then I’ll take three deep breaths and move on”) to stay grounded.
• Practice recovery. During breaks, use breathing or light stretching to reset. Even brief recovery moments can improve focus and accuracy in later sections.

Strong routines, paired with effective recovery strategies, create resilience throughout the exam.

Personalized pacing and survival cards

Strong test performance depends on pacing as much as it does on content knowledge. Test survival cards, or small note cards with reminders and pacing checkpoints, help students manage time and anxiety effectively.

Students often fall into one of three pacing patterns:

• Rushed responders: Move too quickly and make avoidable mistakes
• Deliberate processors: Spend too long on individual questions
• Anxious avoiders: Freeze or skip difficult problems

Survival cards can be customized to address each pattern:

• Rushed responders benefit from accuracy check reminders
• Deliberate processors use prompts to move on strategically
• Anxious avoiders include calming cues and clear skip-and-return plans

Creating a survival card with a teacher or tutor builds self-awareness and provides a reliable anchor during stressful moments.

Updating test-taking habits

Some traditional test-taking advice can actually increase anxiety and reduce scores.

Re-reading questions

Repeatedly re-reading questions, especially in math, often wastes time and increases confusion. Instead:

• Highlight key words
• Restate the question briefly
• Identify exactly what is being asked

This approach engages active thinking and improves efficiency.

Reviewing every answer

Reviewing every answer at the end may feel thorough, but research shows that it often leads to unnecessary changes in answers driven by doubt.

A better strategy is targeted review: revisit only the questions you flagged as uncertain. This conserves time and mental energy.

The importance of realistic practice

One of the most effective ways to reduce test anxiety is realistic practice. Simulating real exam conditions (timing, format, and environment) helps strategies become automatic.

Students who complete multiple full-length, timed practice tests consistently outperform those who rely on untimed study. Familiarity reduces fear and builds confidence.

Realistic practice also reveals patterns, such as timing issues or stress triggers, that can be addressed before test day.

For best results:

• Use official test materials
• Follow exact timing rules
• Practice in a quiet, distraction-free setting

Treat mistakes as data, not failure. Each practice test is an opportunity to refine your approach.

Embracing a modern approach to test preparation

High-stakes exams often bring anxiety, but they don’t have to derail performance. When students accept anxiety as normal and pair strong academic preparation with effective coping strategies, results improve.

Build grounding techniques into daily practice. Develop consistent routines. Use personalized tools like survival cards. Expect setbacks and recover quickly. Let go of outdated habits that increase doubt.

The most successful students don’t just study content for the ACT and SAT. Rather, they learn how to manage test anxiety and perform under pressure. With the right approach, anxiety becomes a challenge to navigate, not a weakness to hide, and confidence follows.