Mindfulness Coaching for Test Prep

Test-taking is a mental game. A student can know their content and strategies backwards and forwards and still fail on test day if they haven’t also addressed the mental challenge of test-taking. Mindfulness offers a toolkit that will not only help younger students develop resilience and confidence with test-taking — it can also support them in managing stress and anxiety throughout their lives.

When we work with students in Mindfulness Coaching for Test Prep, we focus on the mental game of test-taking, because we know a student’s belief in their ability to succeed on the test is fundamental to achieving their goals on test day. Mindfulness coaching gives students the tools to maintain calm, focus, and stamina on test day, and it also gives them a toolkit for managing the challenging moments on the exam. Mindfulness coaching can also be key in building the confidence that allows students to overcome the false narratives that can impact their potential performance on a high-stakes test like SAT or ACT.

Even the most confident test-taker needs mindfulness strategies, because a hundred things could go wrong on test day! Students need to know evidence-based mind-body strategies to keep their cool so they can take a successful test, no matter the calamity or distraction. However, many students come to RTC telling us that tests make them nervous, and that they’d love to learn mindfulness strategies to beat those nerves and take their best test. We help “test anxious” students achieve amazing results on SAT and ACT every day!

During RTC’s test prep assessment process, we determine specifically what kind of test-taker your student is, which often means uncovering barriers to success that mindfulness can help them overcome. Sometimes, a student knows exactly what’s stopping them from succeeding on tests; sometimes, we help them discover it.

For example, a student might say, “I’m terrible at math.” In practice, however, there may be little evidence to support this statement. Our Mindfulness Coaches help students recognize false narratives and explore them at their own pace in a safe and supportive environment, replacing them with more accurate and positive self-narratives that can help students perform at their best. Students also learn techniques that can help them manage test day anxiety, develop the mental stamina required for a multi-hour exam, and talk to themselves in ways that support their confidence and success on test day.

Our tutors and coaches teach mindfulness strategies to all of our test prep students, just as we teach them grammar rules: mindfulness is a key tool for success in test-taking. When we identify that test confidence or test anxiety are barriers to success, we will recommend regular mindfulness coaching with a certified and trained Mindfulness Coach as part of a student’s test prep program.

If you believe your student could benefit from the powerful practice of Mindfulness, please contact us!

Mindfulness and Mental Health

At RTC, we understand that mental health challenges are as normal as any other health challenges, and that people with or without mental health conditions can all benefit from practicing mindfulness. As you will see in the biographies of several of our Mindfulness Coaches, mindfulness can be ideal as a complement to comprehensive, high quality mental health care. However, mindfulness should never be utilized as a replacement for mental health treatment. If you currently have a mental health challenge or become concerned that any mental health symptoms are impacting you, we can help you identify what goes beyond the scope of practicing mindfulness and point you to appropriate resources that can more effectively meet your needs.

The Science of Mindfulness

Mindfulness can be a game-changer for our holistic health: scientific research indicates that a regular practice provides myriad physical, neurological, and psychological benefits. Physically, mindfulness can influence specific markers of inflammation, cell-mediated immunity, and biological aging. Neurologically, studies have found that the brains of long-time meditators have more grey matter volume compared to those who do not meditate. This suggests regular meditation may promote neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience) in the part of the brain responsible for executive functioning (the cognitive processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, recall instructions, and perform multiple tasks successfully). Psychologically, it can help students decrease stress, reduce anxiety, improve focus and awareness, and cultivate emotional regulation. An abbreviated list of recent research on the health benefits of mindfulness is below.

Research on Mindfulness

Below is an abbreviated list of some of the recent research on the impact of mindfulness.

Attention & Concentration

Jha, A. P., Krompinger, J., & Baime, M. J. (2007). Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(2), 109–119. (Mindfulness practitioners demonstrated better performance on objective tasks that required an extensive concentration span.) https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.3758%2FCABN.7.2.109.pdf

Napoli, M., Krech, P. R., & Holley, L. C. (2005). Mindfulness Training for Elementary School Students. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 21(1), 99–125. (First, second, and third grade students’ outcomes on measures of attention were improved after participating in a 24-week mindfulness program.) https://ajibik.typepad.com/pubs/files/J370v21n01_05.pdf

Chiesa, A., & Serretti, A. (2009). Mindfulness-based stress reduction for stress management in healthy people: a review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 15(5), 593–600. (Review paper) https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/24ad/c36ba1d3662f58e60e84bf5a45c1043ab667.pdf?_ga=2.60463277.1419077449.1614900633-883685185.1614900633

Reduction of Stress, and Symptoms of Anxiety & Depression

Goldin, P. R., & Gross, J. J. (2010). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder. Emotion, 10(1), 83. (Social Anxiety) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41415753_Effects_of_Mindfulness-Based_Stress_Reduction_MBSR_on_Emotion_Regulation_in_Social_Anxiety_Disorder

Hoge, E. A., Bui, E., Marques, L., Metcalf, C. A., Morris, L. K., Robinaugh, D. J., … Simon, N. M. (2013). Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness Meditation for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Effects on Anxiety and Stress Reactivity. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 74(8), 786–792. (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23541163/

Raes, F., Griffith, J. W., Van der Gucht, K., & Williams, J. M. G. (2014). School-based prevention and reduction of depression in adolescents: A cluster-randomized controlled trial of a mindfulness group program. Mindfulness, 5(5), 477–486. (Depression). https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-08064-001

Impact on Immune Function

Black DS, Slavich GM. (2016). Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1373(1), 13-24. (Review paper) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4940234/

Emotional Regulation

Roemer, L., Williston, S. K., & Rollins, L. G. (2015). Mindfulness and emotion regulation. Current Opinion in Psychology, 3, 52–57. (Review paper) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X15000974

Ortner, C. N., Kilner, S. J., & Zelazo, P. D. (2007). Mindfulness meditation and reduced emotional interference on a cognitive task. Motivation and Emotion, 31(4), 271–283. (Mindfulness results in a better ability to engage in tasks even when emotions are activated.) https://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/zelazo.pdf

Goldin, P. R., & Gross, J. J. (2010). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder. Emotion, 10(1), 83. (Mindfulness creates changes in the brain that correspond to less reactivity.) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41415753_Effects_of_Mindfulness-Based_Stress_Reduction_MBSR_on_Emotion_Regulation_in_Social_Anxiety_Disorder

Increased Compassion and Self-compassion

Condon, P., Desbordes, G., Miller, W. B., & DeSteno, D. (2013). Meditation increases compassionate responses to suffering. Psychological Science, 24(10), 2125–2127. (People randomly assigned to mindfulness training are more likely to help someone in need.) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256075736_Meditation_Increases_Compassionate_Response_to_Suffering

Birnie, K., Speca, M., & Carlson, L. E. (2010). Exploring self-compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Stress and Health, 26(5), 359–371. (Mindfulness practitioners have greater self-compassion.) https://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/MBSR-Exploring_self-compassion_empathy_in_the_context_of_mindfulness_based_stress_reduction.pdf

Impact on the Brain & Cognitive Function

Chiesa, A., & Serretti, A. (2010). A systematic review of neurobiological and clinical features of mindfulness meditations. Psychological Medicine, 40(08), 1239–1252. (The prefrontal cortex is associated with maturity, emotional regulation and decision making. This part of the brain is more activated and developed in mindfulness practitioners.) https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/28fa/dbb09e3bf36e58660b30e626d870de43785a.pdf?_ga=2.89825051.1419077449.1614900633-883685185.1614900633

Hölzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Vangel, M., Congleton, C., Yerramsetti, S. M., Gard, T., & Lazar, S. W. (2011). Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 191(1), 36–43. (Mindfulness practitioners have more grey matter volume in their brains.) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/pdf/nihms-232587.pdf

Desbordes, G., Negi, L. T., Pace, T. W., Wallace, B. A., Raison, C. L., & Schwartz, E. L. (2012). Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli in an ordinary, non-meditative state. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6. (The amygdala plays a role in emotional regulation and is in a region of the brain that houses the primitive brain – our animal-like brain that can activate without our conscious effort when we feel afraid or threatened. It also activates when we detect or react to emotions, including challenging ones. Mindfulness can help deactivate this part of the brain in non-threatening moments, like test-taking.) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232814367_Effects_of_mindful-attention_and_compassion_meditation_training_on_amygdala_response_to_emotional_stimuli_in_an_ordinary_Nonmeditative_State