Test: Panic Tips

General Advice

• Sleep. Get a good night's rest.
• Diet. Eat breakfast or lunch. This may help calm your nervous stomach and give you energy. Avoid greasy or acidic foods, and avoid overeating. Avoid caffeine pills.
• Exercise. Nothing reduces stress more than exercise. An hour or two before an examination, stop studying and go workout. Swimming, jogging, cycling, aerobics.

 

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Before the Examination

• Allow yourself enough time to get to the test without hurrying.
• Don't swap questions at the door. Hearing anything you don't know may weaken your confidence and send you into a state of anxiety.
• Leave your books at home. Flipping pages at the last minute may only upset you. If you must take something, take a brief outline that you know well.

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During the Examination

• Take a watch with you, as well as extra pencils, scantron sheets, and blue books.
• Answer the easy questions first. This will relax you and help build your confidence, plus give you some assured points.
• Sit apart from your classmates to reduce being distracted by their movements.
• Don't panic if others are writing and you aren't. Your thinking may be more profitable than their writing.
• Don't be upset if others finish their tests before you do. Use as much time as you are allowed. Students who leave early don't always get the highest grades.
• If you still feel nervous during the test, try this: inhale deeply, close your eyes, hold, than exhale slowly. Repeat as needed.

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Works Cited

Ellis, David B. Becoming a Master Student. College Survival, Inc.

Examination Skills and Techniques. Lincoln, Nebraska: Cliff Notes, Inc., 1968.

Millman, Jason and Walter Pauk. How to Take Tests. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969.

Pauk, Walter. How To Study In College (2nd Ed). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.

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