Midterms cause overall stress and anxiety for students.

“In general, when test anxiety is a concern, first try to understand where the stress is coming from,” Oakmont counselor Bethany Olander said.

Midterms often cause students to cram information too soon and forget it, making it an unreliable source for retaining knowledge. 

Does this type of negative impact affect Oakmont students? Of course. Some students are receiving test anxiety training, but this is only a small fraction of the student population. 

“One common reason is lack of preparation,” Olander said. “If a student is not understanding the concepts they’ll be tested on, it is natural that they would feel stressed about the test.” 

Students  in general  dislike tests because they  just cause stress and provide an unreliable result. Feelings of anger, fear, helplessness and disappointment are symptoms to test anxiety. 

“To get better prepared, some strategies would be reviewing notes, getting extra help from teachers, or forming study groups with friends or other students in the class,” Olander said. 

At Oakmont, all students have an assigned counselor; to find your counselor, look at your Aeries. Oakmont also has a Wellness Center to guide students through any issues they are experiencing.

“Midterms usually affect my grade a lot,” sophomore Kennedy Green said. “I don’t do well in testing so I usually have to rely on my grades before making sure I don’t fail the class.” 

What are some ways to mitigate test anxiety? Experts say that counseling and coping mechanisms are the best way to fix this. Counselors are a great resource here at Oakmont.