Timed Tests at School Could Be Causing Your Child Stress

We all want our children to be successful in school. Most, if not all, public school classrooms use timed tests as a method for honing kids' academic skills. And while timed tests are not a problem for some students, a lot of children are highly stressed out by them. Timed tests not only require a child to quickly recall information under pressure, but they also cultivate a competitive environment within the classroom. Some parents may argue that competition is a good thing. It can be, but usually only for the children who are at the top of the class. Many children who cannot perform well on timed tests often feel a sense of failure and inferiority, and neither of these self perceptions is going to help any child succeed in school.

A very common timed test used in public elementary school classrooms are math tests, often referred to as Mad Minutes. Mad Minutes are math skill drills, and usually consist of fifty to one hundred math problems. The skills theoretically being sharpened by Mad Minute timed tests are facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Once a child has learned their multiplication tables for instance, routine Mad Minute timed tests are given to sharpen recall ability.

One of the biggest problems with Mad Minute timed tests is that many children who are actually very capable in math, are too young to be expected to perform under pressure without negative results. Mad Minute timed tests are being given as early as First Grade. And whether the teacher is knowingly encouraging a competitive environment in their classroom, the children often know which students are doing the best and worst in the class. Mad Minutes are commonly color coded by level, so it isn't difficult for children to figure it out quickly. The very unfortunate result can be that children who are struggling in Math feel even worse about their abilities, and other children who are actually very good at Math don't believe they are.