Some students get so nervous before a test. They do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock, a professor at the University of Chicago in Illinois, has studied these highly anxious test-takers. The students start worrying about the results. And when we worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources（资源）.

Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution. Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.

The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short maths tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.

Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored（得分） an average of 12% worse on the second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved（提高） their performance by an average of 5%. Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated（不相关的） to the test. Professor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+, compared to a B-for those who did not.

"What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, and who'd done our writing intervention（干预）, all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and grades. They were performing just as well as their classmates who don't normally get nervous in these tests."

But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and still improve their performance.

Single-sex schools are better than mixed schools

I think mixed-sex schools are the only way for children to learn, because it's natural. In higher education and their working life, they will be mixed so it makes sense for them to be mixed at school. School should reflect the real world.

My reaction to this is very clear. For me, single-sex schools are much better, and the statistics show that they get better exam results, particularly at secondary level. Anything which helps children pass exams must be a good thing.

Boys and girls learn in very different ways. I feel that they should be educated separately so teachers can focus on their different needs. The way I see it is that if you have a zoo, you don't put the lions in with the zebras!

My view on this is that it doesn't really matter. What is important is the curriculum (课程), and keeping students interested. I was a teacher and we had a lot of truancy (逃学) to deal with, and problems with students missing lessons because they found them boring. Never have a timetable with Maths as the first class on Monday morning!

I don't think there is any question that mixed schools are better. There is too much competition at single-sex schools, which often means that students don't make enough progress. I also think there is more bullying (欺凌) at single-sex schools, where children are picked on because of the increased competition. Single-sex schools lead to a “dog eat dog” situation.

Amanda Moore noticed that the new student at school always sat alone at lunch. She felt bad about that. The 10-year-old girl decided to befriend Rafael Anaya, but she also noticed something else — he struggled to understand English. Instead of letting that stop her, she used Google Translate to handwrite a note in Spanish asking him to join her for lunch. Her act earned her the “Student of the Month” award for October at her school.

Rafael had moved to Temecula, California from Mexico at the beginning of the school year. He often cried after returning home from school because he felt so lonely. Amanda didn’t know that when she wrote the letter. She simply knew that he spoke Spanish and that he was lonely. She spent the afternoon carefully writing a letter. When she got home, she couldn’t wait to tell her mother, Kimber Kinard, about the letter, wanting her to proofread(校对) it.

But Kinard felt confused, because she didn’t understand Spanish, either. So Amanda helped her use the app to understand it. Kinard was excited and tearful because she thought it was the nicest thing. The note read: “Would you like to sit with me today? Look for me and I will show you where I sit. We can chat or simply tell interesting stories.”

The next day, Amanda handed the note to Rafael. He gave her a hug. But it wasn’t until their maths class that he said “yes” to lunch. The two have been sitting together ever since.

The note helped Rafael feel more comfortable and encouraged him to work harder on his English. He really wants to learn English to talk to Amanda.

The two use gestures and Google Translate to communicate now, but they hope it will become easier when Rafael’s English improves. And Amanda is learning some Spanish.