You don’t have to feel calm to take the next step.
That’s what I want students to hear as fall admissions testing approaches.
Working memory can hold only a limited amount of information at once. Thoughts like “I’m nervous,” “Don’t be nervous,” and “You’re running out of time” compete with the question in front of them.
Trying not to feel anxious becomes another task competing for their attention.
Think of a stressed air traffic controller: several planes waiting for clearance, phones ringing, pilots asking for instructions.
The controller cannot respond to everything at once.
Some of the noise has to remain while the next plane is guided in.
One plane at a time.
In that moment, adding more strategies can be like picking up another phone line - one more thing to manage when attention is already stretched.
What students need is a process that simplifies the work and helps them identify their next step.
That includes recognizing gaps in understanding: noticing the word, phrase, or step they don’t understand instead of trying to push past it.
This is one part of what I mean by Functional Learning: giving students a deliberate process they can continue to use even when they feel anxious.
The aim is not to make the anxiety disappear.
It is to let the anxiety be while taking the next action.
Let the phone ring. Land one plane.
Great learners are built, not born.