How to Help Your Child Handle OC Test Pressure (Without Making It Worse)

Your child is 8 or 9 years old. They should not be carrying the weight of this test on their shoulders. If they are, the fix probably starts with you, not them.

That’s not a criticism. It’s something most parents don’t realise until the pressure has already built up.

The pressure usually comes from home

Children at this age don’t naturally stress about standardised tests. They stress about them because the adults around them are stressed about them.

When the test becomes the main topic of every conversation, children absorb that pressure. They start to believe that their value is tied to their result. That’s a lot for a young child to carry.

This doesn’t mean you should pretend the test doesn’t matter. It does matter, and your child knows it. But there’s a difference between healthy motivation and overwhelming pressure. A child who feels some positive pressure to do their best will rise to the occasion. A child who feels like everything is riding on one morning will freeze. The goal is to find the level of pressure that brings out their best, not crushes it.

What test anxiety actually looks like at this age

Anxiety in young children doesn’t always look like what adults expect. Your child probably won’t say “I’m anxious about the test.” Instead, watch for:

Avoidance. Suddenly finding every possible reason not to sit down and practise. Picking fights, claiming they’re too tired, or insisting they already know everything.

Physical complaints. Stomach aches, headaches, or feeling unwell on practice days that mysteriously disappear when practice is off the table.

Perfectionism. Erasing and rewriting answers repeatedly. Spending far too long on a single question because they’re terrified of getting it wrong.

Rushing. Flying through questions without reading them properly, just to get it over with. This looks like carelessness, but it’s often anxiety in disguise.

If you’re seeing these patterns, adding more practice sessions isn’t the answer. Addressing the emotional side is.

Practical strategies that actually help

Keep practice routine and boring. The more ordinary practice feels, the less charged it becomes. Same time, same place, same duration. No fanfare, no drama. Just a normal part of the week, like brushing teeth.

Separate practice from outcomes talk. Don’t discuss scores at the dinner table. Don’t compare this week’s results to last week’s. When practice is over, let it be over. Your child needs space to be a kid between sessions.

Make the format familiar. A surprising amount of test-day anxiety comes from the unknown: an unfamiliar screen, question types they haven’t seen, a countdown timer they weren’t expecting. The more your child has experienced these in a low-stakes environment, the less frightening they are on the day. This is one of the reasons practising on a screen matters, not just for the reading skills, but because the real test will be on a screen.

Give them strategies, not just content. A child who knows how to approach a tricky question feels more in control than one who only knows how to answer questions they’ve seen before. When your child has a method to fall back on, like process of elimination or working backwards, they have a safety net. That safety net reduces panic.

Use games to keep it light. Not everything has to feel like test preparation. Maths games, puzzles, and logic challenges build the same underlying skills without the pressure of a timed test. Sometimes the best preparation doesn’t look like preparation at all.

What to say (and what not to say)

You want your child to do well. There’s nothing wrong with that. But the way you communicate your expectations can either fuel their performance or undermine it. A few small shifts make a big difference.

Instead of “You need to do well on this test,” try “You’ve been preparing well. Let’s see what you can do.” Both set a high bar. But the first one adds fear of failure. The second one builds on confidence they’ve already earned.

Instead of “Other kids are practising more than you,” try “Let’s make sure the time you spend counts.” Comparison creates anxiety. Focusing on quality gives them something actionable.

Instead of “If you don’t get into OC…” try “We’re giving this our best shot.” The first puts the downside front and centre. The second keeps the focus on effort and commitment.

And if your child says they’re worried about the test, resist the urge to say “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” That dismisses what they’re feeling. Try “It’s normal to feel nervous about something important. What part are you most worried about?” Then actually listen. You might discover a specific gap you can address, or simply that they needed to say it out loud.

Your child is more than this test

The OC test is a 100-minute snapshot of one morning. It does not measure creativity, resilience, kindness, curiosity, or any of the other things that make your child who they are.

The children who perform best are usually the ones who walk in feeling calm, prepared, and supported. Not the ones who were drilled the hardest. Your job in these final weeks isn’t to be their coach. It’s to be their safe place.

The best way to reduce test-day anxiety is to remove the surprises. OC Test Prep lets your child practise in the same digital format as the real test, with the same question types, time limits, and on-screen experience, so nothing on test day feels unfamiliar.