Exam anxiety in children can be reduced in a targeted way. The best method is to help children and young people build up skills in the required subjects. Accompanying this, it is helpful to explain to those affected how the body reacts to performance requirements and why it behaves differently than usual in exam situations.
It should be sensitively explained to them that excitement and anxiety before such challenges are completely normal. If the reaction patterns of classic test anxiety have already become entrenched, professional help should be sought. An experienced therapist can specifically help to “overwrite” destructive behavior with a constructive approach: some children with test anxiety have learned counterproductive strategies to deal with the anxiety.
These patterns can be “unlearned” again through a renewed learning process. They are replaced by appropriate behavior and more successful strategies during the course of therapy. Those affected train to focus attention on the task at hand.