A 2nd grader who took the National Unified Elementary School Test. The anxiety felt while others said it was 'easy'

The other day, my 2nd-grade child took the National Unified Elementary School Test. On the way home, children coming out of the same classroom were saying one after another that it was 'easy' and that they 'finished everything,' and my child had a slightly anxious look on their face.

'I don't think I was able to do everything...' My heart tightened at that small voice.

More than the test performance, I was worried about them losing confidence by comparing themselves to others. But when we got home and I listened to them talk calmly, they told me, 'There were some problems I didn't understand, but I thought about them without giving up until the end.'

Hearing those words, I remembered something more important than the results.

• Facing problems they didn't understand

• Working hard without leaving their seat until the end

• Thinking it through in their own way

Those are experiences worth more than a score. No matter what others were saying,
the difficulty the child felt and the effort they put in are unique and precious proof of their growth.

A test is merely 'something to know where you stand now.' The person to compare against is not other children, but their own self from yesterday.

When the results come back, I intend to accept both what they could do and what they couldn't do together as 'material for the next step.'