Why Focusing on Effort — Not the Score — Leads to Better Exam Results

Does your child obsess over their practice test scores, becoming anxious if they don’t hit a certain mark? In ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’, Harvard-educated performance coach W. Timothy Gallwey explains the paradox of competition: focusing on winning actually makes you play worse. Discover how shifting your child’s focus from the final score to the effort they put in can transform their performance in the Selective Test, OC Test, HAST, and NAPLAN.

For Australian parents supporting their children through high-stakes exams like the Selective High School Placement Test, Opportunity Class (OC) test, HAST, or NAPLAN, the pressure to achieve a specific score is immense. The goal is clear: get into the desired school or program.

However, according to W. Timothy Gallwey, a pioneer of modern performance coaching, this intense focus on the final outcome is often the very thing that prevents a student from achieving it.

In his classic book The Inner Game of Tennis, Gallwey explores the psychology of competition and performance. He argues that when a performer’s primary concern is winning, they create an enormous amount of anxiety about something they cannot entirely control. This anxiety triggers “Self 1” — the critical, overthinking inner voice — which then interferes with “Self 2”, the natural, intuitive ability to perform.

The Problem With Focusing on the Score

When a student sits down to take a HAST or Selective Test practice paper, their conscious mind (Self 1) might be thinking: “I need to get at least 85% on this to have a chance.”

The fundamental problem with this mindset is that the final score is an outcome. It is the result of many factors, including the difficulty of the specific questions, the performance of other students, and the marking criteria. A student cannot directly control the outcome.

When a child is emotionally attached to a result they cannot control, they become anxious. This anxiety causes physical tension and mental rigidity. They begin to “try too hard”, double-guessing their answers and losing the fluid, relaxed concentration needed for peak performance.

As Gallwey writes: “When I’m concerned only about winning, I’m caring about something that I can’t wholly control. Whether I win or lose the external game is a result of my opponent’s skill and effort as well as my own. When one is emotionally attached to results that he can’t control, he tends to become anxious and then try too hard.”

The Solution: Focus on the Process

The Inner Game solution to this paradox is to shift the performer’s focus entirely away from the outcome and onto the process.

A student cannot control their final NAPLAN band or their Selective Test profile score. But they can control the effort they put into preparing. They can control their focus during the exam. They can control how they respond to a difficult question.

By shifting the definition of “winning” from achieving a specific score to making the maximum possible effort, you give your child back their sense of control. This significantly reduces anxiety, quiets Self 1, and allows Self 2 to perform at its best.

How to Teach Process Over Outcome

Teaching your child to value effort over the final score requires a deliberate shift in how Australian parents talk about exams like the OC Test, Scholarship exams, and NAPLAN. Here are three strategies based on the Inner Game principles:

1. Praise the Effort, Not the Mark

When your child completes a TestMagic practice exam, your first question should not be, “What score did you get?”

Instead, ask questions focused on the process: “How well did you manage your time?” or “Did you stay focused during the reading comprehension section?” When you praise them, praise the specific effort they made, such as their persistence on a difficult maths problem, regardless of whether they got the right answer.

2. Redefine ‘Winning’

Help your child understand that true success in exam preparation is not about beating other students; it is about overcoming their own internal obstacles.

As Gallwey notes: “Winning is overcoming obstacles to reach a goal… Reaching the goal itself may not be as valuable as the experience that can come in making a supreme effort to overcome the obstacles involved.”

A student who scores 70% on a HAST practice test but remained calm, focused, and resilient throughout has “won” the Inner Game far more than a student who scored 90% but panicked the entire time.

3. Embrace the Difficulty

When a student focuses only on the score, difficult questions are seen as threats. When they focus on the process, difficult questions become opportunities to demonstrate their effort and resilience.

Teach your child to welcome the challenge of the Selective Test or Scholarship exams. The harder the question, the greater the opportunity to practice relaxed concentration and trust their Self 2.

Practising the Inner Game of Effort

The best way to internalise this mindset is through consistent, structured practice. TestMagic provides a comprehensive platform of practice exams specifically designed for the Selective Test, OC Test, HAST, and NAPLAN.

By using these tests to practice focusing on effort rather than the score, your child will build the mental resilience needed to perform at their absolute peak on the real exam day.

For more insights on building a strong foundation for exam success, read our article on Raising Boys to Succeed: What Every Australian Parent Needs to Know.