Some students get so nervous before a test, they do poorly even if they know the material. Sian
Beilock has studied these highly anxious test-takers.
     Sian Beilock;"They start worrying about the consequences. They might even statrt worring about
whether this exam is going to prevent them from getting into the college they want. And when we worry ,
it actually uses up attention and memory resources. I talk about it as your cognitive horsepower that you
could otherwise be using to focus on the exam.
     Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution.
Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the
test.
     Sian Beilock:" what we think happens is when students put it down on paper , they think about the
worst that could happen and they reappraise the situation. They might realize it's not as had as they
might think it was before and, in essence, it prevents these thoughts from popping up when they're
actually taking a test."
     The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two
short math tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.
    The researchers added to the pressure. They told the students that those who did well on the second
test would get money. They also told them that their performance would affect other students as part
of a team effort.
    Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored an average of twelve percent worse on the
second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved their performance by an
average of five percent.
     Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams
either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated to the test.
     Prefessor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+,
compared to a B- for those who did not.
     Sian Beilock :" What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, who'd done our
writing intervention, all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and performance.
Those students most prone to worry were peroming just as well as their classmates who don't normally
get nervous in these testing situations."
     But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before and exam
or presentation ?Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and
still improve their performance.