Tuesday afternoon, 1:30 p.m. Pinny is a fourth grader in Mrs.
Spitzer’s classroom. The class is doing a math lesson – its long
division. Pinny loves math, so he’s giving Mrs. Spitzer his full
attention. “Now class,” Mrs. Spitzer intones, “what do we do
after we subtract 7 from 9?” “Bring down the 4,” answers the
entire class in unison. O.K. I know subtract and bring down, but
haw does it start again? Oy, I’m never gonna be able to do this.
We have a social studies test on Thursday on 40 pages in the
book. 40 pages!!! How am I gonna study 4O pages? “On to more
examples. 653 divided by 9.” Pinny glances down at his math
workbook, and is surprised to discover that he has written
nothing in the spaces for the answers to numbers 1,2,3, and 4.
As he glances around the classroom, he sees that everyone’s
workbook is filled except his. As he quickly glances at Chaim’s
workbook, which is on the desk next to his and fills in the
answers, he feels so frustrated. “What s wrong with me,” he
wonders. Test Taking Anxiety Thu