50. Why You’re Bad at Taking Tests (And What to Do About It)

Episode 50

So you think you're a "bad" test taker? I don't buy it. In fact, there are usually just two reasons why someone is "bad" at taking tests, and they don't have anything to do with test-taking skills.

Tune in as I explain what's really going on when a student does fine on homework and classwork assignments but does poorly on tests.

🎙️Other Episodes Mentioned

→ Episode 20: How to Study with Active Recall Techniques
→ Episode 07: How to Learn Things

✅Enroll in SchoolHabits University (Curious? Check it out!)

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  The following transcript was autogenerated and may contain some interesting and silly errors. But in the name of efficiency and productivity, I am choosing not to spend my time fixing them 😉

  
  50 Why You're Bad at Taking Tests and What to Do About It

  ===

  [00:00:00] Welcome to the learn and work smarter podcast. This is episode 50 and I am so glad you're here. Today we are tackling something that affects many of us, particularly students. So if you are a student listening today, this is definitely an episode for you. If you know a student in your life who might find today's topic helpful, feel free to forward or share this podcast with them. 

  But if you're a working professional tuning in, I know that you're going to get value out of today's episode too. 

  
  From the title and you know that we are talking about what's behind the belief that some people are just bad at taking tests. If you are not watching this on the YouTube channel and you're listening on a podcast app, you can't see that I'm using air quotes around bad at taking tests. 

  
  Spoiler alert. The reason why we're bad at taking tests is probably not what you think. 

  Now it's pretty obvious why this episode is relevant to students, right? Because students are the ones [00:01:00] taking most of the tests. But, like I said, it is also relevant for working professionals. 

  Why? Because in the workforce, professionals are tested all of the time, right? Job interviews, presentations, pitching ideas. 

  These are all forms of tests where preparation and confidence are critical, just like in school. 

  And if you don't feel ready, performance, anxiety can sneak in just like it does for students. 

  So, whether you are a student or a working professional, the strategies I'm going to share are going to help you tackle the real issue behind struggling to perform under pressure. 

  Just a note, I'm going to use the language of school and grades and tests throughout this episode, just for the ease of conversation. 

  
  Okay. But if you've ever felt like you are bad- again, I'm using air quotes- at presentations, interviews or other workplace challenges, I guess, take what I'm saying about school, [00:02:00] swap out grades for feedback or results, okay? And apply it to your situation. 

  So, if you have ever thought to yourself, I get good grades on my homework, but I'm just bad at taking tests, stick around, because today I am going to argue that you are not actually bad at taking tests and I'll explain exactly why that belief might be holding you back. 

  All right. 

  Let's start with the idea that you're bad at taking tests. I don't buy it. In fact, I don't think anyone is inherently [00:03:00] bad at taking tasks except in one specific case at which I'll reveal at the end of this episode. 

  Here's the deal. If your test grades consistently fall below your homework or your project grades, it's not because you're a bad test taker. That's right. I said it. If your test grades are bad, it's not because you're a bad test taker. 

  It's because- wait for it- you likely don't know the material well enough to be tested on it, yet. 

  And I know what you're thinking because my own clients see this all the time to me. But I do study. I do prepare, I do know it and I still bomb the test. Listen, I hear you. And that is super, super frustrating. 

  
  In fact, like I said, I hear this all of the time from my students and I tell them the same thing that I am telling you guys here today. 

  
  So, let me explain what is actually happening and it boils down to [00:04:00] two possibilities. You're not doing well on tests for essentially one of two reasons, or it could be both. In fact, in many cases, it's both. 

  Number one you're studying the wrong way.

  And number two, you're not studying enough. 

  So I am going to break these down. 

  So reason, number one, you're studying the wrong way. 

  Most people fall into the trap of passive studying. Passive studying feels productive. It feels so productive because you're spending time with the material, but there's a big difference between looking at information and actually learning it. Okay. Passive studying looks like that. So I'm going to give you some examples- although we have talked about passive studying, um, a bit on this podcast before in past episodes, but that is rereading your notes, it is skimming through textbook chapters, it's just highlighting things. It's maybe reviewing a study guide that your teacher made it's using [00:05:00] pre-made flashcards and not making your own. All right. 

  Does any of that sound familiar? 

  This is the way that most students actually study. Most students with good intentions are looking through notes and skimming through a textbook and things like that- all the passive study techniques, which are fake study techniques that I just listed through. But the problem with passive studying is that it doesn't require our brain to actively engage with the material. It's surface level. And surface level studying doesn't stick. 

  Another problem with passive studying is that unless you know, any better, it really does feel like studying. 

  You have your materials in front of you. You're sort of like thinking about the topics. Time is passing as you're sitting at a desk with like all your things sprawled out in front of you, right? This is dangerous because many students do this and truly, really honestly, in their heart of hearts believe that they're studying- when all they're doing is really [00:06:00] just looking at the material. 

  Looking at something. Rereading something, even just reading something, skimming something. None of that is actual studying. Studying, like the verb to study, is a completely different activity. The only way to effectively study something is through active recall. 

  And that means testing yourself without looking at any notes. To retrieve the information. Yes, it is so uncomfortable. And yes, it can be so challenging. But it's also the only way to get our brain to truly absorb new information. 

  We've talked all about active recall before. I have a whole episode on active recall strategies. 

  It's episode 20. I think it's called how to use active, recall to study. And then episode seven is called how to learn things. And that's going to be really helpful for today's conversation as well. 

  
  I'm going to leave those links below. [00:07:00] Also, you can find links to everything, no matter if you're watching the YouTube version, or if you're listening in a podcast app by going to the learn and work smarter website where have everything related to this podcast that's learnandworksmarter.com. And then to access a particular podcast, this one, for example, including the transcript and all the links I mentioned you go to learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/50, because this is episode 50. Alright. 

  Um, some examples just really quickly of active recall study strategies, so these are the good ones- this is actual, real studying, is creating and using your own flashcards. Taking practice tests, um, doing problem sets and exercises, writing out key concepts from memory like an, a brain blurt, um, creating your own study guide and filling it in from memory. Having someone else quiz you on the material, trying to teach someone else, you know what you're learning. 

  The magic happens when you can answer questions without peeking. When, you know the material well enough to do that [00:08:00] you'll be ready for any curve ball on test day. 

  
  Even if your teacher phrases the questions differently or ask questions about the material in like a way that, um, is different than the way you studied it, you'll be fine. You'll be fine because you really know it because you tested yourself a million times before the test using active recall methods. 

  Think of it this way. 

  If you can't recall the material without peeking at your notes during your study sessions, you are not ready for the test. Period. 

  On the other hand using passive recall study methods like rereading handouts and looking over your notes gives us a false security by seeing the content, but not really understanding it. All right. 

  As we read through our notes, we might think we understand it. And we might be thinking, oh yeah, like, like I know this, I know this word. Right. But really? Do we really? That's the danger. The feeling of, "oh, I knew [00:09:00] it when I studied it, but I still did bad on the test," that is not based on reality. Because the reality is that we didn't know it when we studied it using passive recall. We recognized it when we fake studied it, and recognizing something is not knowing it. 

  Now, reason number two why students say they're bad at tests is that they're not studying enough. Learning is not instant. 

  
  On a cellular level, our brains need repeated exposure over time to move information from our short term to our long-term memory. This is why cramming the night before a test will never, ever, ever work. 

  The solution is spaced repetition. This means studying in short focused sessions over several days or ideally over weeks, if it's possible. 

  Spaced repetition gives our brain time to process and truly learn material. 

  You may already be using active recall techniques during your study sessions, in which case you are already ahead [00:10:00] of most students. 

  
  But are you having enough study sessions? And that's a question that you need to answer, honestly. When we study something, it kind of hangs out sort of- I'm like super simplifying this- but in our short term memory for the duration of that study session. That's great. 

  
  And it's definitely the first step of knowledge acquisition, but our short-term memory is temporary. In order to recall, which means remember, information during a test later on, the information must be in our longterm memory, not our short-term memory. 

  And to move something from short-term memory to long-term memory, we have to go through a certain process. 

  We have to study it multiple times over and over again, over a period of at least a few days and weeks is better, using space repetition. 

  Spaced repetition is the process of studying material in short bursts, maybe like 20 to 45 minutes during multiple study sessions over an [00:11:00] extended period of time. 

  Let me be clear here when I'm suggesting that a top reason a student is bad at taking tests, um, is that they're not studying enough, I am not suggesting to cram more study sessions into a day. 

  
  I am not advocating for all nighters and epic study sessions that last hours at a time. All right. I just really need to be clear, cause that is not the solution. Six 30-minutes study sessions spaced out over several days will always, always be better than a one-time three hours study session the day before the test. Always. And 6, 3, 6 30 minutes study sessions is three hours or a three hour study session is, is three hours. Right? So you might think it's the same, but it is not. 

  Okay. Now let's talk about this phenomenon of doing really well on homework assignments and maybe classwork, but still not doing well on the test. This is one reason why people tend to blame the test, right? This is one of the primary reasons behind the argument is I'm just not a good [00:12:00] test taker. I'm good at homework, I'm good at projects and I'm good at assignments, but I'm just not good at tests. And I'm still sitting here arguing that that is not a thing. 

  
  I hear this a lot from my private clients and I saw it a ton with my clients when I was in the, uh, on my clients, my students in the classroom when I taught high school. It is so common for a student to get really good grades on homework assignments and classwork and projects and things like that. But still bomb a test. How is this possible?

  If you know the material for the homework, like won't, you know it for the test? Isn't it the same material? No. And here's why. If you zoned out for whatever reason, zone back into this part, please. The reason that you can do so well on homework and classwork and still be bad at test taking is that -again, air quotes- is that homework and classwork is not testing conditions. When you do your homework and your classwork. We have access to all of the materials at our fingertips. 

  All of [00:13:00] the answers are there. When we're doing our homework and we don't know a question, we can just Google it right or look it up or check our notes. 

  Same thing with classwork. You can turn to the kid next to and be like, what did you get for this? Right. You could ask your teacher; you could still look at your notes. We have access to the answers during all activities that aren't testing conditions. And this is perfectly fine. This is what we have to do when we're just starting to learn the material. 

  
  We don't know it yet, which means that we have to find the answer somewhere. So we Google it or we check our notes. 

  
  But we have to be realistic and accept the fact that answering questions correctly on homework because we Googled the answer does not translate even a teeny tiny bit into the possibility of being able to correctly answer that question on a test with no resources in front of us. 

  And this single reality is what frustrates so many students. 

  
  And I get it. I really do get it. It is such a crummy feeling to feel confident in one area like homework or [00:14:00] classwork, only to have that confidence shattered later on when you do poorly on a test. 

  
  And whenever we feel icky it's normal and human nature to look for external reasons for our feelings. Oh, well the test was hard. The teacher wasn't fair. The test wasn't fair. The questions on the test didn't match thestudy guide, whatever, the test was too hard. And all of these sort of like knee-jerk responses are very understandable. 

  They are very common and I get it, but they're also very unhelpful and not accurate. I guess once in a while, there's going to be a poorly designed test with questions that one might call unfair, usually in the sense that they're unclear or ambiguous or something, but in most cases it is not the test or the teacher's fault. In very rare scenarios it is. 

  And I'm not coming from a place of it's all your fault, but rather from a gentle place of like, “Hey, we just need to switch up the way that you're doing things. Hey, like, this is all in your [00:15:00] control.” Did you hear that? This is all in your control. Doing well on tests is in your control once you accept the reality that studying the right way and studying enough is the ticket to doing well on tests. 

  It's the students who have trouble accepting this reality, the students who continue to blame the test and blame the teacher, who are the committed diehards to the narrative who continued at eight stay stock and to get the bad grades. 

  
  Okay. I want to move on to a response or rather an objection, I think that's a better word, to this argument that I hear a lot. And that's this idea of testing anxiety. All right. As you've been listening to this episode so far, you may have been forming the same objection in your own mind. You might've been thinking, okay, Katie, but like my case is different because I have test anxiety. 

  I really do study and I am prepared and everything's fine before the test, 

  
  and I know it, but when I [00:16:00] sit down to the test, my mind goes blank because I have test anxiety. 

  All right. Let's talk about this. At its core at its core, what's the number one cause of test anxiety? Why do we feel that pit in our stomach and our sweaty palms and our rapid heart rate, when we sit down to a test or we have to present at a meeting or before any kind of assessment? I'm trying to remind all your working professionals listening that I'm talking to you too, right? Behind almost every case of test anxiety is the fear that we don't actually know the material, that we don't actually know what we're doing. 

  And that fear is usually justified.

  
  Think about it. If we walk into a test presentation, whatever, that we haven't prepared for properly, of course, we're going to feel anxious. Of course, we're going to feel that pit in our stomach, Of course, we're going to wonder if the test is going to be unfair or too hard. 

  
  And [00:17:00] then, as we're sitting there worrying about whether or not we're gonna know the material and know the answers, we start worrying, and then we start worrying about our worrying. And then now our anxiety is worse. And what do we know about anxiety? 

  It hijacks the same part of our brain that is required for learning and for recall, literally anxiety prevents us from finding the information in our heads and using it to answer questions. 

  
  So even just the teeny tiniest bit of self doubt or insecurity about how well we know the material before a test can rapidly snowball and make it so that anything that we do know becomes unavailable to us. 

  Now, let me just be clear. We all feel a little, certain uncertain, uncertain, when we're going to be tested on something, whether in school or any context at all. But there is a big difference between that normal level of self doubt, which is actually rooted in a strong desire for a certain outcome and a [00:18:00] fear that we won't achieve that outcome. 

  Okay. That's all very normal. So there is a difference between that self-doubt and the self-doubt that's truly rooted in a subconscious recognition of not being prepared for whatever it is that we're about to do or be tested on. 

  But there is good news. It's not all dark and gloom. There is a way out of this and there is a solution and that's literally the entire point of this episode. Yes. We can reduce our test anxiety by preparing in a way that proves to ourselves that we know the material. 

  Let me explain, imagine that you have spent days or ideally weeks using active recall and spaced repetition. 

  You've created a study guide. You've tested yourself over and over and over again. You've nailed your own practice questions over and over and over again. You've done this multiple times until you can't possibly get any kind of question wrong on the material. 

  Now picture walking into your test. [00:19:00] How would you feel? Confident. Right? And that confidence is not imaginary. It's rooted in real evidence that you have finally mastered the material. When we give ourselves undisputed evidence over and over and over again that we truly do know what we're going to be tested on, when we know it inside and outside forward and backward, okay, in a box with a Fox, then we demolish that brand of self-doubt that has the potential to demolish our testing performance. 

  We might still feel nervous, but remember, that nerve is related to a normal desire for a specific outcome and the unease we feel at the idea of maybe not reaching that outcome. And that's normal. 

  That's a different type of nerve than the anxiety that is rooted in subliminally knowing that we don't know something well enough to be tested on it. Okay. If this feels too complicated to understand right now, [00:20:00] rewind me and listen to that again. 

  Okay. Earlier, I mentioned that there is one legitimate reason why someone might be bad at taking tests. And that is severe anxiety that is not just limited to test taking. 

  If someone has a pervasive or a generalized anxiety disorder, that includes social anxiety, that matter is beyond the scope of this podcast. 

  All right. I'm not a physician. I can neither treat nor diagnose medical conditions, which anxiety is. So if you are suffering from an anxiety disorder, please seek the help of a physician. 

  I'm going to share a personal story here. I have shared it before. I don't think I've shared it on this podcast. It must've been like in a YouTube video, but it took me a long time to be able to share this story. Okay. I have struggled with an anxiety disorder. 

  Um, I now have tools and strategies and mindsets and my cat who is literally under the table in front of me, okay, that I've [00:21:00] made it almost now a non-issue in my life with the exception of random times that it chooses to show up. 

  But when I was an undergrad in college, I was taking a lot of lab sciences, especially for someone who was an English and Spanish double major. 

  That was my choice. Only myself to blame. And I remember one semester I was taking some advanced chemistry course. Why not? And I did prepare enough. And I did prepare the right way. That's actually part of my origin story about SchoolHabits. Back then in my school life, I used all of the strategies I teach now, naively thinking that what isn't this what everyone does? 

  Doesn’t everybody know this? Turns out they don't, which is why I have a business. But anyway. I was sitting in this giant auditorium with like 80 students taking this advanced chemistry test and my anxiety hit so hard that the sweat from my hands and my tears literally disintegrated the [00:22:00] paper. I turned the test into actual pulp. 

  I remember trying to pick the test up, like peel it off of my desk to bring it up to the professor, Dr. Chen, to get like a new test but I literally could not peel it off the desk without it falling apart in my hands. 

  
  My professor was kind, she was compassionate. She let me come back later that night to take the test in her office. But I remember it was an awful experience and it did have nothing to do with my preparation and more to do with some rogue neuro-transmitters that decided to disrupt an important moment. 

  
  And I know I was prepared because when I went and took the test that night, I was totally fine. Completely fine. 

  I'm sharing this story so it's clear that I'm not dismissing severe testing anxiety related to a larger anxiety disorder. Severe test anxiety can cause us to freeze or to blank out, even if you know the material. I know firsthand that this is true. 

  [00:23:00] But here's the catch. Well, I am considering severe anxiety disorders the exception, proper preparation. I can still make those with anxiety disorders better at taking tests. 

  When we have proven to ourselves through active recall and spaced repetition that we know the material inside and out, it can ease that anxiety. Even if we have some level of general anxiety brewing below the surface, having absolute confidence in our knowledge of the material can be the antidote to that test day panic. 

  
  So to recap. You are not bad at taking tests. There is no such thing as a bad test taker. We are bad at taking tests because we don't know the material well enough yet to be tested on it. 

  Maybe we full out know that we're not prepared, in which case test anxiety can creep in. Or maybe we innocently believe that we're prepared because we [00:24:00] didn't realize we were using passive study techniques, in which case a bag gray leaves us feeling devastated, and like our study efforts don't pay off. So what's the point of studying in the first place? And that's when we blame the teacher or blame the test. 

  Either way, giving ourselves indisputable evidence in unreasonably large proportions. That we know our stuff is the answer. 

  Also the number one cause of test anxiety is not the test itself. It's the fear of not knowing the material. 

  And the solution? I sound like a broken record here. Study the right way using active recall study methods. Study enough. Using spaced repetition. And give yourself evidence that you are ready no matter what the test looks like, no matter how the questions are phrased or how tricky it seems your teacher is trying to be. 

  Thank you for listening to the learn and work smarter podcast. 

  If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a friend. Or leave review. [00:25:00] I will see you next time. And as always keep growing. And never stop learning.