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Last month’s New York Times Sunday Magazine feature story about students, stress, and standardized testing included an anecdote about Bright Star Charter Academy student Armando Rodriguez.  Rodriguez loves competition and generally thrives under pressure, but didn’t feel so good when he took the SATs:

Occasionally, he’d look up from his exam to see everyone else working on their own tests: they seemed to be concentrating so hard and answering questions faster than he was.

“What if they’re doing way better than me?” immediately led to the thought, “These people are smarter than me. All the good schools are going to want them, and not me.”

Within seconds, he arrived at the worst possible outcome: his hopes of a good college would be gone.

Want to know what happened next?  Here’s the full story: Why Can Some Kids Handle Pressure While Others Fall Apart?