Fairview Middle

Tips to Help Your Student Prepare

• Make sure your child gets a good night's sleep before test days
• Encourage a healthy breakfast on test mornings
• Remind students to read questions carefully and use the scratch paper provided
• Use process of elimination. If you're unsure, rule out the answers that are clearly wrong first.
• Take a breath. If anxiety spikes mid-test, a few slow, deep breaths can genuinely reset focus.
• Students can practice with sample questions at the Florida Statewide Assessments Portal: FAST Portal
• Stay positive — remind your student that these tests help their teachers understand how to support them better

A Note for Parents — This One's Important

How you talk about testing at home shapes how your child feels walking into that room. A few reminders:

• These tests do not define your child. They are one data point among many, and a snapshot of one moment in time.
• Avoid putting a number on success. Saying "You need to get at least a Level 4" adds pressure that rarely helps.
• Celebrate the effort, not just the outcome. Acknowledging that your child showed up and tried their best is always the right move.
• Keep the after-test conversation light. Resist the urge to immediately ask "How do you think you did?" Give them space to decompress first.
• If your child struggles with test anxiety, talk to their teacher or our school counselor. There are real strategies and, where appropriate, accommodations available to help.

Reminder: FAST PM1 and PM2 scores are progress checks, not final grades. Even a low score early in the year just means teachers have more information about where to focus their support. That's exactly what these tests are designed to do.