Cognitive Skills and Test Performance 

If you or a loved one struggles with test taking, it’s important to understand the link between cognitive skills and test performance.  

Why do some students excel on tests and others struggle?  Is it just related to how effectively they study?  Of course, preparing for a test is critical, but often a student will spend time studying and still consistently struggle. 

The answer often relates to a student’s cognitive skills. Cognitive skills are the skills that enable us to think, process and learn effectively.  

For example, long-term memory is key to test performance. A child can study the night before, seemingly have the information down, but then struggle on the test the next day. If long-term memory is weak, it’s like a leaky bucket and it becomes difficult to retain and reproduce the information studied. 

Working memory is also important as weaknesses in this area can cause careless mistakes, skipping test instructions, or multi-step difficulties (in math problems for example).  It’s frustrating for students to going into a test knowing the material and content but getting a lower grade due to simple and avoidable mistakes.  

Logic and reasoning gives a student the ability to apply concepts and handle multiple choice (deductive reasoning) questions. It can also help with overall test taking strategies – being able to infer correct answers based on how the question is asked, answering the easier questions first and then going back to the more difficult ones, etc.  

Processing speed is our ability to work quickly on timed tests and recall information quickly. When this is low, and is coupled with low memory, it often results in test anxiety as students struggle to recall and can’t work fast enough.   It can result in freezing in the moment which causes a lot of stress.

Auditory processing is the core skills required for effective reading and decoding.  Given most tests are written exams, being a strong reader with solid reading comprehension is foundational to strong test performance.  If a student is not reading well, they will likely miss instructions and take much longer to complete written exams.   

There are test taking strategies that help with test performance – using repetition, association techniques, etc.  but if any of these core skills are weak, it will limit the effectiveness of any strategies.  It’s like plastering the cracks in the wall without fixing the foundational issues causing the cracks.   The key to improving test performance is to understand the root cause of the difficulties and strengthen the weak skills to help a student overcome it. 

If your child is struggling with test taking and you would like to better understand how test taking and cognitive skills relate, call LearningRx in Woodbury today.  The first step is to schedule an assessment which will inform us as to the root cause. We can then build a training program to help your child overcome these struggles.