This shows how much anxiety the test can create for a student. More anxiety is created by the fact that these tests are so meaningful to a student.When something so meaningful is tied to the student, more anxiety is generated. The anxiety caused by the test can also cause students to forget what he or she has learned and/or how to apply what he or she has learned. This stress is not only applied to the students, but to the teachers. Often, teachers greatly worry about their students and their students scores.
Students have to deal with the pressure of This also places the added burden of constantly trying to do better than their peers onto students (Williams). Students are often compared with little regard to their differences (Williams). When students are forced to "perform" on these tests and do better than their fellow students it shifts the focus from actually learning the material to cramming in as much information as possible to do well on the tests. This pressure placed on the students can lead to severe anxiety and in extreme cases mental conditions. Standardized tests have become so intense that they have taken the joy out of teaching and learning for both students and teachers.
Test anxiety is a common phenomenon among students and is a problem among the education system. According to 1 and 14, test anxiety is an unpleasant emotional experience or fear of failing, before or during important examinations. Unpleasant experiences consist of dread, fear, apprehension, worry, tension, and doubt which makes test situations appear threatening (1, 2, 5, 6, & 8). These experiences decrease one’s ability to cope with stressful testing situations and inhibits performance ability. Test anxiety also compromises psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions that impact academic progress (10, & 19).
Research has shown that high-stakes testing causes damage to individual students and education. It is not a reasonable method for improving schools. Test-taking anxiety is common among high school and college students. The anxiety can be quite stressful and sometimes weakening, both personally and academically. It is a condition that thousands of students suffer from and it is something that they cannot help or overcome by the time of a test.
Having test anxiety can be a challenge for any student, and can be frustrating, especially if they do not know what could be causing the test anxiety. Poor time management, lack of preparation, and fear of failure can cause test anxiety in students. Poor time management often leaves students with inadequate study time and can be a beginning cause of test anxiety. Procrastinating, putting study off until the last minute, is a good example of how poor time management can cause test anxiety in students. Amber Tresca, a Professional Medical Editor, who wrote, “Feeling as though you have too much to do and not enough time to do it in can create a significant amount of stress.
"” Stress from theses tests have become so common that there are now instructions on how to deal with it. It is no longer just taking the test for students, but learning to preform under the stress and anxiety brought by the test. “Critical thinking cannot be tested accurately using standardized tests. Also many students who have grasped the main topics and concord the materials have not scored well on these tests due to stress anxiety.” A student is made up of more than just a number, for each student has creativity and personality that can never be measured by a standardized test. A student may be failing a class but it is the most challenging class in the school.
The tests are normally from a long time ago and they are just re-used and something needs to be changed about that. Our school systems need to start using alternatives to the final exam. There are alternatives to the typical academic testing out there and school systems need to start using other methods to measure the retention and performance of their students. The first thing you need to know about exams are they are causing way too much stress among students of any level of school. Stress is one of the body’s natural responses to something that is threatening or frightening.
Dina is a student whose challenges in the classroom clearly exemplify how misdiagnosis can occur, because her multilingualism and diverse cultural background present a challenge for her teacher. While a diagnosis that entitles one to special education services can be beneficial for many students, it can be disadvantageous to those who are not actually disabled. Many students receive “labels” that they do not feel they deserve (Arnold and Lassman, 2003), and many students placed in the special education system suffer from low expectations and are not pushed to reach their maximum potential. This is a big issue in our increasingly diverse society, and the high incidence of pedagogically induced disabilities must be addressed. There are a number of possible causes behind the amount of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in the special education system.
But the fact of the matter is that a lot more than studying can go into testing. From scoring/writing errors, to improper handling, the mistakes that can happen in standardized testing are wide. This isn’t a good thing when future classes as well as scholarship eligibility is determined by these tests. But, from causing student stress to scoring errors, standardized tests are causing people to rethink their significance to education. And what many parents and students are finding out, is that these tests are not as good as everyone once thought.
It is no wonder then that many studies conducted were dedicated on finding the impact of stress to the academic performance of students. Studies show that one of the factors that hinder students in performing well in their academics are because of the stressors they encounter day by day (Akgun, S., & Ciarrochi, J., 2003). According to the work of Radifah (2009), learning and memory can be affected by stress. Although normal amount of stress can enhance one’s learning ability, too much can be harmful to one’s mental health. Stress can also surpress learning, which is considered as ‘unfavorable stress’ and can harm a person’s academic performance (Siraj, 2014).