Abridged version:

I am looking for suggestions to help an international student reduce her anxiety when sitting timed, marked, or visible (to classmates) work. She is very capable, but she is a perfectionist when it comes to her academics. I am running out of ideas from my repertoire, so I am hoping some of you have suggestions for me.

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Full version:

I teacher English A at an international school in Europe. The student in question is not a native English speaker, but she is fluent (just below a native level). For those that are familiar, I would guess she is at a C1 level. There are very few high stakes tests in an international curriculum, so it's not quite the same as in the States. While culturally education is very important, it is not so bad as to make the average student have anxiety. Likewise, while this student's family is supportive and encouraging, they are not known to be irrationally demanding. She is the youngest to go through our school, so we are familiar with her family.

This grade 9 student is a perfectionist and holds herself to super high academic standards. She is brilliant and has a strong work ethic, but she struggles with time management and lacks confidence. She is always pushing herself to improve and take on new challenges, but in doing so, she gets overwhelmed and I swear sometimes I can see her brain exploding (figuratively, of course).

She clearly understands the material (as evidence by pre-assessments, discussion, class work, etc.), but whenever she feels any pressure, she seems to lose the plot. This happens with any timed work (regardless of whether it will be marked or not), any marked work, or any work that will be seen by her classmates. I can visibly see her get anxious as she starts tapping her foot and moving a bit more frantically than normal. She then starts asking a bunch of questions that she knew the answer to the lessons before, and she tries to incorporate EVERYTHING SHE HAS EVER LEARNED into her work. It gets so messy and confusing and totally random that there have been times I can't even mark it properly.

I'm not sure why she does this. I don't know if she panics and can't remember what we've been doing, or if she is just pulling whatever comes to mind into her work, or if she is trying to build on previous skills and transfer them to a new assignment (which is sometimes appropriate but sometimes not), but it's just chaos. I have spoken to her about this and she doesn't seem to know why she does this - nor why it only happens with timed or marked work.

I would very much like to work with her on this, but so far nothing has made a dent. I've tried: repeatedly telling her work isn't marked, making sure she knows that I don't expect an hour's worth of work in 30 minutes (for example), giving her time and space to step out and calm down, giving her cues or direct reminders about the focus of the assignment, and adapting assignments slightly to make her feel less pressure.

I really want to spend the rest of this year and next year helping her manage this stress, but I am running out of ideas. I am comfortable and willing to work with her one-on-one and to adapt lessons for her, but I don't know what else to do. Who has experienced this? What has (or hasn't) worked in your experiences? Even the smallest feedback could set something into motion for me, so please share your ideas!