The modern high school student has to deal with many form of pressure. There is pressure from home and society to do well at school, while peer pressure encourages the pursuit of "coolness". There are the stresses that come with getting into college, with all the entrance exams and competition for limited scholarships to pay for it all. So it is no wonder that child anxiety disorders are fairly commonplace.

One form that child anxiety can take is math anxiety disorder. While nearly everyone has some difficulty with math, especially higher mathematics, math anxiety disorder is characterized by a child who is perfectly capable of solving the problems who simply freezes up and panics on tests. Math anxiety is fairly common, and can be overcome without too much difficulty as long as it is not symptomatic of some greater underlying anxiety disorder.

Part of the problem is that unlike most other disciplines, a math answer is either correct or incorrect. There is rarely more than one way to solve a problem, and just a rarely more than one correct answer. There just aren't very many areas where there are a range of correct answers. The precision required can intimidate and be difficult for even otherwise exceptional students. If your child has math anxiety, there are things that both you as parents and your child can do to help.

1. Get help early: If you are experiencing math anxiety, the best thing you can do is seek out help. Tell your parents and your teachers. Sometimes, with a little additional tutoring, you can overcome your anxiety before it becomes an issue during a test.

2. Take practice tests: If you are having difficulties at test time, have your teacher give you practice tests. Knowing ahead of time that you are capable of passing the test can go a long ways towards relieving your math anxiety.

3. Avoid cramming: Don't wait until the night before to try and learn the last months worth of math. Not being absolutely sure of yourself and your knowledge of the subject being tested can easily trigger your math anxiety. You must KNOW before you test that you can pass the test.

4. Meditation and relaxation techniques: Just as with other forms of anxiety, taking the time to meditate or perform other relaxation routines before the test can help a lot. If you don't go into the test jittery and anxious, you are far less likely to have a math anxiety attack. Go in relaxed and confident, and that test will be a breeze.