Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders: What Are Roadblocks?

Roadblocks are always popping up along the way as we travel down this road called life. As we travel onward, these roadblocks can present both positive and negative situations. Although, have you ever had something so simple hold you back from your dreams? Something that can be as simple as a standardized test. A test that meant whether one got into college, or a test needed to enter the program of one’s dreams. For some, standardized tests become more than just the average little road block they are meant to be, they can become the wreck that changes one’s life.

Standardized tests began all the way back in the 1800’s with the use heightening when the No Child Left Behind Act went into place in 2001, then mandating that all 50 states had to

The scarier picture is not being able to get into the college you’ve always wanted or the program your degree requires because you test poorly. Poorly as in test anxiety, or simply not understanding the way questions are worded. Or how about someone who has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), how would testing be for them? PTSD is defined as, “exposure to any extreme traumatic stressor such as military combat, physical and sexual assault, child abuse, disasters, or accidents (Leslie Rutkowski).”. A study conducted among military soldiers showed those with PTSD scored five percent lower than soldiers without the disorder (Leslie Rutkowski).” Five percent may not seem like a huge difference, but when you needed those few extra points and you fall short, either you retake the test if your able or stick with the score you received. One who doesn’t have a disorder may still have test anxiety, which will also result in lower scores. Speaking from personal experience, classmates and myself included are worried about Anatomy tests. Looking at our homework grades you would see grades 95 or above, leading to the conclusion that we would test well on the material if we knew the material without cheating off each other. However, that is not the case. Anxiety over the test causes us to stress over these tests and even go completely blank when the test is before even if we spent hours studying the material and retain the information. Is it fair that the biggest part of our grade are tests which reflect our grade to get into the nursing program? Our grade shows how well we test compared to how well we understand the material. Combine test anxiety with PTSD, what are the chances for that person to have scores better than average? Very slim, however, that’s how the states agreed to test our knowledge. Sounds unfair