Just like Dorothy Espelage used educational psychology to explore bullying, I chose to explore test anxiety among adolescents, a social-emotional issue I’ve seen in both the Kenyan 8-4-4 system and in my current experience teaching in France.

Across cultures, many students don’t struggle because they didn’t revise, they struggle because of how they feel when sitting the exam. Their body goes into panic mode: sweating, mind blank, stomach tight. This invisible fear often goes unspoken yet directly affects academic performance, memory, and motivation.

What the Evidence Tells Us

Research shows that 20–40% of learners experience moderate to high test anxiety, with long-term academic and emotional consequences (von der Embse et al., 2018). These learners may study hard but underperform, not because they don’t know, but because anxiety impairs their working memory (Putwain & Daly, 2013).

Test anxiety has both emotional and cognitive roots:

• Emotionally: Fear of failure, embarrassment, or judgment.
• Cognitively: Overloaded working memory and negative self-talk.

This is especially visible in high-stakes exam systems, where results are tied to identity, family honor, and future opportunities. In Kenya, for example, the KCSE results define a student’s entire future. There’s little room for creative thinking or emotional safety.

Key Educational Psychology Concepts

Several theories help interpret test anxiety and its impact on learning:

• Self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997): Belief in one’s ability to succeed. Students with low self-efficacy are more likely to doubt themselves and perform poorly.
• Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller, 1988): Anxiety increases mental clutter, reducing focus and memory recall.
• Socio-emotional Learning (CASEL, 2020): Skills like emotional regulation and self-awareness are essential, yet often ignored in exam-oriented systems.

How It Affects Learning

Test anxiety not only causes poor performance but can lead to learned helplessness, academic avoidance, and negative academic identity. A student who repeatedly fails due to anxiety begins to believe they are simply “not smart,” even if the issue is emotional, not intellectual.

In multicultural classrooms (like in France), immigrant or bilingual students may experience added stress, especially when language barriers or cultural expectations affect their confidence.
I’ve seen some bright students shine during discussions but completely shut down during written tests.

Practical Solutions

To support students affected by test anxiety, we need to:

• Normalize discussions about fear and anxiety in class.
• Introduce mindfulness or breathing exercises before assessments.
• Replace one-size-fits-all tests with diverse assessment methods, including presentations, creative projects, and open-book tasks.
• Train teachers in basic social-emotional learning approaches.

References:

• Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. Freeman.
• von der Embse, N., Barterian, J., & Segool, N. (2018). Test anxiety interventions for children and adolescents. Psychology in the Schools, 55(6), 584–601.
• Putwain, D., & Daly, A. L. (2013). Test anxiety prevalence and gender differences. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 1(2), 113–122.
• Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285.
• CASEL. (2020). What is SEL? Retrieved from https://casel.org/