Students can combat test anxiety and improve performance by writing about their worries immediately before the exam begins, according to a University of Chicago study published in the journal Science.

A group of students begins an in-class writing test. According to new data analysis, half of U.S. eighth graders have difficulty with long-form writing on tests and classwork that involves reading.

Three decades ago, research by James Pennebaker and colleagues (1986) revealed that expressing one’s deeper thoughts and feelings through writing can result in significant physical and psychological ...