Reducing Test Anxiety

April 1, 2024

Reduce test anxiety with these tips to help you manage the nerves for your next certification test.

By Sarah Evers Conrad, USPC Marketing and Communications Director

Your nerves have kicked in, despite your best attempts to stay calm. You’re now sweating, nauseous, and your heart is racing. You’ve lost all ability to focus. Your mind races as you try to pull the answer out of your brain, but despite all your preparation for your certification, it’s still eluding you. You glance around at all the stares from other testing candidates as they await your answer. The Examiner awaits your answer. Your anxiety has hit full force. Now what? How do you reduce test anxiety

In a world where mental health is being talked about more often, and more people are learning to deal with things like anxiety disorders and other mental health issues, the United States Pony Clubs is also well into the mental-health conversation. It’s one that gets discussed as the USPC curriculum is developed, and it’s one that USPC leaders are addressing to help members and to help other leaders.
In 2022, National Examiner Nancy Grout presented a webinar to National Examiners (NEs) and others on the topic of test anxiety. She pulled upon her more than 35 years of experience as a high school teacher and more than 40 years of experience as a local examiner and an NE.

Grout defined test anxiety as “the relatively stable tendency to generate disproportionate emotional response in academic assessment situations due to concern about poor performance and possible negative consequences.” She emphasized stable and disproportionate to highlight the extent to which someone could experience anxiety. It goes beyond just your typical nerves or worries during a high-stakes situation, like a certification, an important competition, or a Quiz rally.

Many emotions come with test anxiety, such as fear, anger, helplessness, guilt, shame, and disappointment. In addition, physical symptoms can appear during a bout with test anxiety, including nausea, excessive sweating, headache, dry mouth, a racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, and tense muscles, which then make the rider not as fluid with the horse when mounted.