A brief writing session did not clearly ease test anxiety
A meta-analysis found no significant anxiety reduction; the test-performance finding lost statistical significance after an extreme result was excluded.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
A single session of writing about test worries did not significantly reduce anxiety in the pooled evidence. Test performance initially appeared to improve slightly, but the result was no longer statistically significant after an extreme study result was removed. This review does not provide reliable support for the approach as a treatment for test anxiety.
Effects varied substantially across studies, and the abstract does not specify comparator activities or when anxiety was measured. The loss of statistical significance after removing an outlier makes the performance finding uncertain.
Writing about test worries
The intervention asked students to put their worries into words shortly before an exam. The review assessed both anxiety and test performance, allowing it to check whether emotional relief and improved scores were supported separately.
Why the outlier matters
Removing an extreme result left the anxiety finding nonsignificant and changed the performance finding from significant to nonsignificant. This sensitivity suggests caution about the apparent score benefit; it does not prove that the writing exercise can never help.
The original publication
Single-session expressive writing interventions for test anxiety: a meta-analysis.
O'Meara P, Lovett BJ
Anxiety Stress Coping · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 40968670
- Record checked
AI-assisted research and writing. This explains one selected publication; it is not a complete review of everything known. Our approach.
One more question, understood.
Keep track of the research you’ve explored.