Write about your feelings before a test.... and get a better score

A remarkable study -- Write about your feelings (put your doubts on paper) and you will score higher.

listen to minute 48-50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxPWAw9nemU

students who write a journal about "their feelings" before a test do better than students who don't write about their feelings.

NOVA program

Transcript

from minute 48

Sian had a theory she thought could have a huge impact, and she set out to prove it. She went where the stress was boiling over: a high school biology exam.

Just before the test started, Sian's team gave the kids an extra assignment.

GERARDO RAMIREZ: We came to the classrooms and asked all of the students to either write about their deepest thoughts and feelings or sit there for 10 minutes.

DAVID POGUE: Sian knew from other studies that depressed patients who wrote down their emotions in a journal could break the cycle of negative thinking. But would it work for anxious test-takers?

SIAN BEILOCK: And the idea is that, if we have people journal before this important test, we might be able to help them succeed.

DAVID POGUE: The students poured out their deepest worries onto paper. Then it was test time.

So how'd they do?

Students who just sat without writing anything, on average, got a B-minus, but the ones who wrote got, on average, a B-plus.

SIAN BEILOCK: We boosted these students' scores over half a grade point by just having them sit and write for 10 minutes about their thoughts and feelings about the upcoming high-stakes test.

Students who wrote about their feelings before
a test ("who journaled") scored better

DAVID POGUE: So what did the students write?

SIAN BEILOCK: (Reading) There's millions of butterflies in my stomach. Breathe, breathe, I'm telling myself.

GERARDO RAMIREZ: So he starts out talking about how worried he is, and towards the middle he says, "As I continue to think about this final, I relax significantly."

DAVID POGUE: For those students with high test anxiety, journaling was a silver bullet. But why does it work?

SIAN BEILOCK: When people are worrying up under stress, it's almost like a computer with too many programs open at once. Sometimes, everything crashes. And by writing down some of those worries, you're able to offload some of those programs, so you free up resources to perform at your best.

DAVID POGUE: Journaling may help kids show how smart they are when it matters most.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/how-smart-can-we-get.html