Writing About Test Worries Before an Exam: What Studies Found

Some students know the material and still do worse on the real exam than on practice tests. Pressure seems to get in the way. A pair of studies led by psychologists Ramirez and Beilock tested a short, free intervention aimed at exactly this problem: writing about your worries in the minutes before a test.

1. The idea behind it

The researchers started from a specific explanation of why pressure hurts performance. In the 2011 paper, Ramirez and Beilock, at the University of Chicago, describe their expectation that sitting for an important exam leads to worries about the situation and its consequences, and that those worries undermine test performance.

The 2014 follow-up, focused on math anxiety, spells out the mechanism further. Math anxiety can create performance-related worries that disrupt working memory, the mental workspace you use to hold and manipulate information while solving a problem. If worry is taking up that space, less is left for the test. The intervention they tested, expressive writing, had previously been shown to reduce intrusive thoughts and improve the availability of working memory.

2. What the 2011 study found

The 2011 study, published in Science, included two laboratory experiments and two randomized field experiments in real classrooms. The intervention was a brief expressive writing assignment completed immediately before an important test, in which students wrote down their thoughts about the upcoming exam.

According to the paper's abstract, this writing significantly improved students' exam scores, especially for students who were habitually anxious about test taking. The authors summarized the result simply: writing about one's worries before a high-stakes exam can boost test scores.

One detail worth knowing: the paper later received a published erratum (a formal correction notice) in 2014. That is a normal part of scientific publishing, and it is a good habit to check for such notices whenever you rely on a specific study.

3. What the 2014 math anxiety study found

The second study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, involved 80 students who varied in math anxiety. Before completing math and word problems matched for difficulty, students were assigned to one of two conditions:

• Control: sit quietly before the test.
• Expressive writing: write about their thoughts and feelings regarding the exam they were about to take.

In the control group, highly math-anxious students performed significantly worse on the math problems than students with low math anxiety. In the expressive writing group, that gap in math performance was significantly reduced.

The researchers also looked at what students wrote. Among highly anxious students, using words related to anxiety, cause, and insight was positively related to math performance. In other words, students who named their worries and reflected on them seemed to benefit more than those who wrote around them.

4. How to try it before your next exam

The studies give the core ingredients, though not a one-size script. A practical version based on them:

1. Timing: do it immediately before the test, as in both studies, such as while waiting outside the room or in the minutes before you start.
2. Content: write honestly about your thoughts and feelings about this specific exam. What are you worried will happen? Why does it matter to you?
3. Go past listing: based on the 2014 finding, try to name the worry and reflect on its cause, for example "I am nervous about the proofs because I lost points on them last time."
4. Keep it private: this is not something to hand in. You can throw the page away afterward.

If you take exams in a setting where you cannot write beforehand, you could try it right before you leave for the exam instead. That is an adaptation, not what the studies tested, so treat it as an experiment.

5. What this does not replace

The studies tested writing as a way to help students perform closer to what they already know under pressure. It does not create knowledge you have not studied. It works alongside preparation, not instead of it.

It is also not a treatment for an anxiety disorder. If test anxiety is severe, persistent, or affects you outside exams, talk with a school counselor or health professional.

6. Key takeaways

• Worry during a high-stakes exam may use up working memory that you need to solve problems.
• A 2011 study in Science found a brief expressive writing task right before an important test improved exam scores, especially for habitually anxious students.
• A 2014 study of 80 students found expressive writing reduced the math performance gap between high- and low-anxiety students.
• Among anxious students, writing that named worries and reflected on their causes was linked to better math performance.
• The method supports performance under pressure but does not replace studying or professional help for serious anxiety.