Stress Bias on Standardized Test

According to, Jennifer Heissel of the Naval Postgraduate School, Emma Adam and David Figlio of Northwestern, and Jennifer Doleac and Jonathan Meer of Texas A&M University, on average, students possess 15 percent more cortisol in their systems before an actual standardized test than on days with no high stakes testing. Those students with high cortisol perform worst between testing and non-testing weeks. The culprit described was both the spikes in cortisol which means you are severely stressed and the other was the decrease in cortisol, meaning that your body is facing an overwhelming task making your body not engage with the test.

As a teacher, I think the biggest benefit of standardized teaching is being able to gather measurable data that helps us understand how far are the students in understanding the core concepts. By doing so, I will be able to determine their struggles and provide interventions on how they can improve. I am also leaning towards the fact that standardized testing is useful for governments to monitor the quality of education in their respective countries. The underperforming parts of the country can receive funds to allocate resources specifically to improve the level of education and support students learning.

The downsize to standardized testing is that it causes so much stress for students. The stress can eventually lead to poor performance. The inability to focus during exams is the main reason for not fully understanding the question. Second guessing or too much thinking, will eat up your time during exams.

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/19/02/tests-and-stress-bias#:~:text=What%20they%20found%20is%20that,of%20what%20they%20actually%20knew.

https://oxfordlearning.com/pros-cons-of-standardized-tests/