Racing heart beat. Nausea. Sweating. Trouble sleeping. Stomach aches. These can all be symptoms associated with exam anxiety‎. As your child moves through school, she will undoubtedly experience increasingly long, complex, and stress-inducing exams. Help her beat this exam stress with the ideas detailed below.

Create a GRAND plan
The amount of information your child needs to learn for an exam can feel downright overwhelming. There are dates to memorize, vocabulary terms to learn, notes to process, books to read – the list goes on. To help him feel less overwhelmed and more in control, encourage him to come up with an organized “grand plan” for tackling his exams. He should start by creating a diagram on a large sheet of paper, with a bubble at the top of the page containing the subject and date of the exam (i.e. English, March 1st; Math, March 3rd, etc.). Underneath each bubble, have him list the topics he needs to learn for each exam. Then, as he studies and learns each topic, ‎he should cross it off the list. This “crossing off” action will give him a feeling of accomplishment and a sense of mastery – building motivation and confidence and reducing exam-related stress.

Break studying into steps
Rather than trying to learn all material for an exam in one night or studying at random times, encourage your child to break down her studying into organized steps and put each step into her assignment book. For instance, if she has a history exam to study for covering five chapters, she may want to map out a six day plan ‎that involves studying one chapter per day for five days and a final (sixth) day for reviewing all five chapters. Then she should detail each day’s plan in her assignment book. For instance, on Monday she might study chapter one by reviewing the chapter material, creating flash cards on important terms, self-testing herself on the flash cards, and then perhaps answering the study guide or end-of-chapter questions. She should follow this same procedure for days two, three, for and five, and end by reviewing all of the information on the final (sixth) day.

Block distractions
Help your child come up with a plan for avoiding all distractions that may divert him from his study plan. He should turn off all phones, tablets, and noise making devises that he doesn’t need for studying. If he does need use his tablet or computer for his work, he can try using an app like Cold Turkey which blocks social media websites for a designated time period, so that he can focus solely on studying. Not only can checking social media be distracting, but it can lead to increased stress if his friends, say, post comments about how much they’ve already studied or how well prepared they feel for an exam, when your child feels far from ready.

Take breaks!
Help your child prevent information overload by ensuring that she doesn’t study for hours straight. Instead, she should build in regular pre-planned breaks. For instance, she may try a strategy like STUDY-REFLECT-BREAK, where she studies for perhaps forty minutes, reflects on what she learned for ten minutes, and then takes a ten minute break. She might even build in small rewards for herself during her breaks, like ‎a cup of hot chocolate, a quick phone check, or a short walk outside. If she effectively completes her “grand plan” (like the six day study plan detailed above) she may plan a “larger” reward for herself, like a trip to the movies, a manicure, or dinner at a special restaurant.

Try relaxation exercises
If your child continues to display ongoing stress, he may benefit from relaxation exercises. For instance, he can try laying flat on his bed or sitting comfortably on a chair and closing his eyes. Encourage him to relax his body parts, one at a time, while breathing deeply. He may start with his feet, then move to his legs, arms, torso, and so on, visualizing each body part fully relaxed and taking long, slow breaths. This type of relaxation exercise can help him feel calm, in control, and free of stress.

As your child moves through school, she will encounter an increasing number of complex, stress-inducing exams. Encourage her to try these strategies to help her tackle each exam with confidence, control, and success.

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The night before an exam can bring immense anxiety to children. They might complain of a stomach ache, head ache, back ache, or just about any other body pain. They may feel tired, angry, or irritable. In reality, they could just be experiencing test taking anxiety. Try the strategies below to help ease this anxiety and help your child feel comfortable and confident come test day.

The post 5 Tips for Reducing Test-Taking Anxiety appeared first on EBL Coaching.

The process of applying to independent schools often creates a whirlwind of emotions for prospective students.  Will I like my new school environment?  Will I meet new friends?  Will I be able to manage my new homework and test demands?  And, most importantly, Will I even get in?

Before applying to an independent school, students entering grades 5 through 12 must take the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE).  They need to earn a stellar score on this three-hour SAT-like aptitude test in order to compete with their fellow applicants and earn a slot in one of the ultra-competitive New York City independent schools.

With all the hype centered on this anxiety-ridden entrance exam, is there some way for students to prepare adequately for the test?  The answer isyes.  The ISEE is actually structured in a format that resembles the new SAT test.  It mixes verbal and math questions in multiple choice and quantity comparison formats and ends with a thirty-minute expository writing sample.  Students should take note: the essay portion of the ISEE is actually not graded!  This writing section is included on the exam so that schools can gain a sense of how students present arguments and express themselves on paper.  With this in mind, although the writing portion is not graded, itâ€s still a good idea for students to learn some strategies for how best to build their written expression skills.  In fact, learning strategies for all sections of the test is a sure-fire way to improve oneâ€s overall score.  Practice with these strategies builds automaticity, comfort, and confidence – all keys to exam-day success!

The Test Overview

There are actually three different ISEE tests, depending on the studentâ€s grade level:  the Lower Level (for students entering grades 5 and 6), the Middle Level (for students entering grades 7 and 8), and the Upper Level (for students entering grades 9-12).  The questions, of course, vary in complexity depending on the level of the test.  Each exam is composed of the following sections:  Math I, Verbal (containing synonyms and sentence completions but not analogies!), Reading, Math II, and the essay.  It is important for students to note that there is no penalty for incorrect answers, so unlike the SAT, there is no harm in guessing!

Strategies for the Verbal Section

The Verbal section of the ISEE contains 40 total questions, including sentence completions and synonyms.  For the Lower Level, students are given 40 minutes to complete the questions and for the Middle and Upper Levels, they are given 20 minutes to complete the same number of questions.

Sentence Completions

Within the 40-question Verbal section, 20 of the questions are sentence completions.  The sentence completions are arguably the easiest types of questions on the exam, but they can certainly be confusing without the right strategies.  For these questions, students must select the best word (or words) from the multiple choice selections to fill in the blank (or blanks) and complete the sentence.  Building a strong vocabulary base is of course key for best answering the sentence completion questions, but beyond that, students should use the following practice-makes-perfect strategy:   predicting and plugging.  For starters, the student should read the question without looking at the answer choices.  He should then fill in the blank with a word in this head– anyword, not necessarily a complex vocabulary word – which would make the sentence complete.  For example:

On the day of his grandfatherâ€s funeral, James had a _______ look on his face.

1. Happy
2. Gloomy
3. Irate
4. Ugly

Before even looking at the answer choices, the student should try to complete the sentence with his own word selection.  For instance, he might choose the word sad (before looking at the answer choices) so that the sentence reads:  On the day of this grandfatherâ€s funeral, James had a sad look on his face.

Next is the plugging step.  Once the student has selected what he feels would be a good fill-in-the blank word (or words), he should look at the multiple choice selections and try to find an answer that best resembles his own.  In the case of this example, gloomy is a synonym for sad, so the answer would be (B).

Synonyms

The other 20 questions on the Verbal section are synonyms.  Synonyms are two words that bear the same meaning, like car and automobile, seat and chair, or old and ancient.  Again, for this section, building a strong vocabulary (with lots of reading and learning the prefixes, suffixes, and roots of words), is critical.  However, a great tool for solving synonyms questions is the define and select technique.

Basically, when a stem word (the word in capital letters at the top of the question) is given, the student should come up with his own definition of the word (the define step).  Then he should read each of the multiple choice selections and decide which word best fits his definition.  For example:

GENUINE:

1. fake
2. similar
3. real
4. common

After reading the word GENUINE, the student should first define the word.  Real or authentic should immediately come to mind as possible definitions.  Next, he should select the choice that best fits his definition.  In this case, real happens to be one of the choices, so (C) would be the correct answer.

Strategies for the Critical Reading Section

The critical reading section contains about seven or eight passages (articles, stories, and poems) with multiple choices questions that follow.  Some of these questions can be tricky, and often ask students to identify the topic and main idea of the selection, find facts and figures, and make inferences.   A great tool for this section is the read, summarize, and predict strategy.  It works as follows:

The student should read the passage first, before looking at the questions.  He should try to read at the right pace – not too fast or too slow (the read step).  Practice will help him figure out the right pace.  After reading, he should ask himself what he feels the topic and main idea of the passage are, then create a one-to-two line summary in his mind of what he read (thesummarize step).  Finally, as he answers each question, he should always read the question first, predict what he thinks the best answer would be, and then look at the choices to find the selection that best matches his prediction (the predict strategy).

Strategies for the Essay Section

As mentioned earlier, the essay section is not graded but it is an important way for schools to gain a feel for how students express themselves on paper.  In 30 minutes, students must read the essay prompt (for example:  Living in the country is better than living in the city), think about their ideas, and organize their thoughts on no more than two pages of paper.  Many students lose valuable sleep just thinking about the essay-writing process.  The following tips are sure to help:

The three most important steps involved in the essay writing process are as follows:  brainstorm, write (in an organized fashion),and self-check.  First, brainstorm.  Students should create either an outline or a visual web diagram containing all information that they wish to include in their essay.  They should write out their thesis statement (whether they agree or disagree with the prompt and two or three reasons why) and also list those reasons with specific examples and facts as back-up.  Next, they should write the essay in a structured, organized, and well-thought-out manner.  Finally, they should self-check their work using the acronym COPS, which stands for Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, and Spelling.  The acronym should be aligned vertically on the page underneath the essay with a single check-box next to each letter.  Students should self-check for eachelement on the list and place a check in the appropriate box after self-checking that aspect of the essay.

Strategies for the Math Section

The math portion of the exam contains two sections:  Math I, which has 35 questions and allots 35 minutes, and Math II, which contains 35 questions and allots 40 minutes.  The best advice for scoring well on the math section is to learn and re-learn (and practice!) all topics that may be covered on the test.  To answer the questions most efficiently, students must have enough practice with each type of question and the way it may be presented to feel fully comfortable and at-ease with the different types of questions that may be presented.

Remember that if your child is feeling at all nervous about this exam, he or she is certainly not alone!  The ISEE elicits a nerve-wrecking experience for many students.  Yet learning and implementing these tools well before the test date is a promising way to create a successful outcome.  You can also purchase ISEE study guides at local book stores.  One-on-one and small group test preparation is another option for students who need some guidance along the way.  Remember that with enough practice and the right tools, your child is well on his way to independent school admissions success!

Emily Levy is the founder of EBL Coaching, which offers one-on-one and small group academic instruction.  Read more about EBL Coachingâ€s programs at www.eblcoaching.com.

The post Taking the ISEE? Strategies for Success appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Column-Style Notes for Studying

Many tests require students to understand and recall large quantities of information. Learning how to create column-style notes can help them actively learn this information and create well-organized study guides along the way. Here’s how column-style note taking works:

A student may need to learn and retain information from a passage containing multiple sub-sections about the Civil War. When using this strategy during executive functioning tutoring sessions or independently, they should first read the passage one sub-section at a time before taking any notes. They should highlight the main idea of each section in green, or if there is no explicit main idea written in the text, they can write an implicit main idea in the margin and highlight that information in green. They should then highlight the important details in yellow, trying to only highlight information that is very important and only words and phrases whenever possible. Once the student has finished reading the section, they should create a column-style diagram, which might look as follows:

On the top of the page, the student should write the topic of the section. In this case, the topic is Civil War. The main idea of each sub-section should be written in the column on the left in the student’s own words (Causes of the War, Battles, etc.), and the important details from each sub-section should be written in the column on the right. Note that for the important details, students can feel free to use abbreviations, symbols, contractions, or any form of shorthand that they find helpful. Students should use this strategy for each section of text that they are required to learn. With this technique, which is often used in executive functioning coaching sessions in NYC, they can “chunk” information that was once overwhelming into smaller, easier-to-understand, bits of text.

Read more about executive functioning strategies at Organizational Tools for Academic Success – EBL Coaching.

Three-Tier Flashcards for Memorizing Vocabulary

Many exams require students to memorize large quantities of vocabulary words or terms. Without having a photographic memory, this process can be tough. The three-tier note card strategy can be a helpful tool used during study skills tutoring sessions for learning these words and terms. The key is to write the word or term on the front of the card and then create three horizontal columns on the back of the card, as follows:

The student should write the definition on the top part of the back of the card in their own words. In the second (middle) section, the student should write a sentence that helps them associate the meaning to something in their life. In the bottom section, the student should draw a picture annotating the sentence. For example, if the vocabulary word to be learned is “digress”, the student would write that word on the front of the card. On the top section of the back of the card, they might write “to stray or deviate.” In the middle section, they might write the following sentence: Every time my friend Ella tries to tell a story, she digresses from the main point. In the bottom section, they might draw a picture of Ella with a bubble coming out of her mouth with “blah, blah, blah” written inside the bubbles. With this strategy, students learn to link random vocabulary words and terms to various people and events in their lives.  This vocabulary strategy is often used during study skills tutoring in NYC as well as in executive functioning coaching sessions in Manhattan.

Read more about executive functioning tools at Study Strategies for your ADHD Child – EBL Coaching.

Start Studying Early

To maximize the benefit of these strategies, students should not wait until a day or two before the exam to begin implementing them. Instead, they should plan ahead and start using the techniques well in advance of the test day. The more they practice them, the more internalized the strategies will become, and the closer students will be to achieving test taking success. Executive functioning coaching in NYC can help students prepare for tests and build their overall study skills.

How to Reduce Test Taking Anxiety

Students can reduce their test taking anxiety in several ways. Once effective technique, which can be integrated into academic tutoring or executive functioning coaching sessions in NYC, is by practicing deep breathing. For example, they might try the box breathing strategy, which works in the following way:

• Your child should sit upright in a comfortable position, ideally with their feet flat on the ground, but they can lay down if that makes them feel more relaxed. They should exhale all the air out through their mouth.
• Then they should inhale for four seconds through their nose, trying to fill up their lungs and stomach.
• They should hold their breath for four seconds.
• They should slowly breathe all the air out of their mouth for four seconds.
• They should hold their breath again at the bottom of the exchange for four seconds.
• They should repeat this cycle at least four times, but more times than that is okay too.

To further reduce test taking anxiety, your child can try positive self-talk by reminding themselves they know the information and will do well on the exam. They can also try taking a lot of practice exams prior to the test day to become ultra-familiar with the material.
If your child is struggling with test taking anxiety or executive functioning skills, EBL Coaching can help. Read more about our one-on-one executive functioning coaching and academic tutoring programs at www.eblcoaching.com.

Frequently asked questions 

What are some effective test taking strategies for students?
Students can improve their performance in tests using strategies such as chunking information, creating well-organized notes, studying well before an exam, deep breathing before and during the test, and managing their time effectively when taking exams. Executive functioning coaching sessions can help them build these skills.

How can students reduce test taking anxiety?
Preparing effectively for a test and taking a lot of practice exams can help students reduce test taking anxiety. Additionally, doing deep breathing exercises with a method like the box breathing strategy can also help them reduce their test taking anxiety.

What are some good ways to memorize vocabulary for a test?
A helpful method for learning vocabulary is the three-tier flash card strategy. With this method, students use flashcards and write a definition, an example sentence using the word, and a visual image to help them make a connection to the definition. Study skills tutoring sessions can help students learn strategies for improving their test taking abilities.

Dr. Emily Levy is the founder and director of EBL Coaching, a tutoring center that specializes in helping students in grades prek-12 develop executive functioning, reading, writing, math, and organizational skills. She holds her Doctorate Degree in Education and her Master’s Degree in Special Education.

Other Related Blogs:

Differentiating Between ADHD and Autism in Children
Helping Autistic Students Build Stronger Executive Functioning Skills

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