"My student is just not a good test-taker." Nearly every parent I talk to ends our initial call with words like these.

Experience has told them this is true. I hear stories of late nights studying only to have grades returned disappointingly low. Sometimes it's s. Other times I hear stories of sobbing the night before tests, of crying on the way to school of uncontrollable shaking in the minutes before a test starts. Regardless of the degree of struggle, it is heartbreaking to hear, and it is only logical that both parents and students would take these experiences to heart.

In my experience however, no one is inherently a bad test taker.

Test taking is a skill.

Grace thought she was a bad test taker. In fact her mother described her in exactly these terms as we talked about her daughter's past ACT performance - a composite score of 14 out of 36. She had taken the test several times and done some studying on her own, all to no effect. "She's not a good test taker but she really wants to be accepted to this nursing program." She had not yet given up, but this was her last chance.

After working together for several weeks, she took her test. Not only did she reach her score goal, she scored above a 22 and even received a merit scholarship - $7000 a year for all four years.

She was not an intrinsically bad test taker; it was something she needed to learn.

The first step = believe you can be a better test taker.

The key to being a better test taker is believing it is possible. I often say that half of my job as a tutor is to convince students that they can change their performance.

This is just human nature. If we believe that something about us is part of who we are and essential to our view of our selves then it is something we just have to live with. This is why it can be so troubling to think of ourselves as "bad test takers" - it cuts off the ability to get better. However, if I can be convinced that test taking or math topics or a difficult science subject is a skill, something that can be learned or honed, then I have agency. And if I have agency then I can take steps to understand it and improve it.

Here are a few tips to start being a better test taker.

Tip #1: Listen to how you're describing 'test taking.' Whether you're a parent or a student, pay attention to how you are describing the test taking experience. Be careful to not describe anyone as a 'bad test taker.'

Tip #2: Specifically use positive feedback  Change the words you use to talk about testing. Emphasize to yourself or your student that test taking skills can be improved.

Tip #3: Work on specific ways to improve, then recognize your progress Nothing gives momentum to improved performance better than actually improving. Recognize small improvements and use those to accelerate that work.

No one is doomed to be a bad test taker. Believing that test taking is a skill opens us up to improving on what we thought was impossible.