In a test situation, teachers will see some students exhibit signs of test anxiety. They will appear to be overly anxious, some become extremely fidgety, and in an extreme case, a student might leave the room abruptly in tears.
While a little anxiety can be a positive motivator for a student to study well, too much anxiety can detract from performance on a test. Test anxiety may be due to insufficient preparation and a feeling of pressure to excel on the test. In other cases, a student may have prepared well but then his or her anxiety causes the student to falter when the test begins.