University Of Chicago Researchers Find Writing About Test Anxiety May Improve Grades

The AP (1/14, Blankinship) reports that a new study by University of Chicago researchers found that "a simple writing exercise can relieve students of test anxiety and may help them get better scores than their less anxious classmates." University of Chicago associate professor of psychology Sian L. Beilock and co-author Gerardo Ramirez, a graduate student, "found that students who were prone to test anxiety improved their test grades by nearly one grade point - from a B-minus to a B-plus, for example - if they were given 10 minutes before an exam to write about their feelings." The two "believe worrying competes for computing power in the brain's 'working,' or short-term memory." The idea to test the theory came "from the use of writing to combat depression."