Do not believe that anyone can be a bad test taker. It is irrational that some people feel like whatever they do, they can’t get a good grade on a test. Chances are that anyone can do good on a test if they want a good grade bad enough. Many people believe that their inability to do well on tests is because they are destined to fail right from the beginning and that’s why they are a bad test taker. Others blame it on their test taking anxiety and inability to recall answers to questions they claim to have spent all night studying. Both of these things may be true but they don’t make anyone a bad test taker.

The initial cause for many people to say, “I’m not dumb, I’m just bad at taking tests,” is the large difference in their homework and testing grades. They see these numerous A’s on classwork and homework and poor grades they have received on tests and then quickly assume that they are just bad at taking tests. However, it is evident that they know the material as shown by their strong homework grades. However, many studies show that the students do not know the material well enough to do well on tests because of poor study skills. Susan Tatsui-D’Arcy, director of Merit Academy, says that kids do not know how to study and once they are taught proper study skills, they immediately improve their test grades. When students feel as if they know the material, they are much less likely to study for their tests and therefore more likely to do poorly on them.

Another cause of the curse of the bad test taker is their preconceived notion that no matter how they prepare they will do dismally on the test. This is called a self-fulfilled prophecy, meaning that since they believe they are going to fail they will, in fact, fail even if they knew enough to pass. According to Aspen Education, a group of education experts who attempt to help people improve their test scores, the brain processes the information as if the student only knows enough to fail and second guesses answers because of low confidence. Thus ultimately creating a cocktail of doubt which causes them to fulfill their self-imposed prophecy of failing another test. This creates an endless cycle of unconsciously not trying on tests, not studying, and then getting more bad grades but only to blame the failures on a predisposition to being bad at taking tests. Students need to be aware that they can pass every test; they just need to study hard and believe they can do well on the test.

There are some people who do believe being a bad test taker is biological. Test anxiety is a real problem for some people, but this anxiety extends past tests into other aspects of life and most people find ways to cope with it. Test anxiety impairs test takers by causing panic resulting intense second-guessing and inability to focus. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, test anxiety is often caused by nonbiological forces, such as lack of preparation, previous experiences, and fear of failure. All of these forces are the same as those of a self-fulfilling prophecy. While many people believe they have test anxiety, it is only caused by their bad preparation and they then feel the stress of realizing they are about to get a bad grade and lasting effects of performing poorly. People who are bad at taking tests still have hope to turn their poor testing ability around by controlling their anxiety, preparing correctly, believing in themselves, and being more aware of how much of the material they actually know.

As evident by the graph with data provided by College Board, students who averaged a 3.0 GPA had a score of a 20 on the ACT. This shows that the average student scores the same average score on a standardized test, proving that they are performing averagely rather than poorly. The GPA compared to the SAT is nearly identical to the GPA compared to the ACT further proving that the averages correlate. When you get the same test score as other people with the same GPA is shows that you are not a bad test taker.