Extreme test anxiety

[ddip_1710]

I have a student who has such severe test anxiety her mother pulled her from public school and is now home-schooling her in co-op with the district.

This student just tested for her first rank last night. She did great until she got to the third test criteria, her long form for her rank. She couldn't get past one part and just broke down. This girl is really strong, so we moved on to another category, techniques and then I had her break boards - not usually done for a white belt test.

Breaking the boards proved cathartic for her - she likes and clearly needs to make a lot of hard contact and she's very strong.

After the techniques and breaks, she FLEW through her long form.

Afterwards, she said she didn't remember anything about her test except for crying. I'm not sure if she's being absolutely true ... but if so, this kind of anxiety would be quite debilitating in life.

I have my own opinions and a bunch of options on how to proceed with her. My teacher suggested to just promote her as she absorbs required material and demonstrates proficiency without an actual test.

My concern about this approach is that she will never get over the performance anxiety. As I put it to her, some anxiety is fine so long as she has tools on how to deal with it; life has many tests (some you pass and some you fail) and yet you must endure, ultimately.

I told her courage is not the absence of fear/anxiety but doing it anyway and that is what she displayed for us last night. A most important character trait. Though, if this is to the point where she can never test and requires more than just exposure-based behavior modification then I may need to just do it the old way.

So ... I wondered what others think and do in your schools. Have you ever had a student like this and how did you handle it?

Thanks for sharing, I really like your views it's true about life.........

 

[RoninGirl82]

I also have extreme test anxiety...my 3rd degree brown test I almost failed because i just couldn't connect the name of the technique to the actual movements. The instructor passed me because he'd seen me in class, and I can do these techniques great, but that night my brain just shut down. That was some 2-3 years ago.

At that time, college exams were just as bad...I would pass my tests with flying colors, but would freeze either before or after. Math is the worst...I actually froze DURING those tests.

Three things that have absolutely been essential for moving past this:
1.) My Service Dog. I had to train my dog to recognize when I was freezing up, and to do something that would snap me out of it (among other very important training subjects!). After just one semester in school with the dog, I learned to recognize the early signs of stress and instigate the coping mechanisms faster.
2.) Continuing my Karate career. I can't tell you how many times I had to push through a panic reaction while sparring. There were times I would freeze during a match while thinking about a strategy I wanted to implement...my instructor was always kind enough to hit me in the head while I just stood there. Doesn't happen very often now, because I've learned to NOT think while sparring (at least, not that much) and not to stop all motion while thinking (or flywheeling, more accurately).
3.) Learning to control my THOUGHTS! I can honestly say that Karate TAUGHT me coping mechanisms and ways of controlling my thoughts during stress. Anxiety that freezes starts as a single thought, then snowballs until it consumes all brain-processes. Think of it as a pesky download that takes up ALL the computer's memory to process, eventually requiring a hard reboot to get the thing running properly again. Learn to control the initial thought and it will not snowball. Takes practice and experience, but it can be done.

And yes, until new neuron paths are laid, it takes outside help to break the old patterns. I've found that physical activity really does wonders when the brain shuts down...I've had to punch many brick walls just to break a freeze or anxiety-producing thought pattern. Whatever works!

The worst thing that can happen is for the fear to win. NEVER stop because of a panic attack; just work through it, then push past. It hurts, its not fun, takes extra time, but the sufferer is better for it in the long run.

But then, YMMV