4 Strategies to Overcome Test Anxiety

Nearly all students experience text anxiety at least once in their lives. It is natural to do so when facing the GRE, SAT, or perhaps even a weekly quiz. However, test anxiety can interfere with students' logical reasoning abilities and their memories. It can even result in a serious mental block.

Remaining calm on your exam day can help you manage such anxiety and ultimately lead to improvements in your grades. Here are four strategies to do so:

Study early and get enough sleepEach person requires a different amount of sleep. Some students function beautifully on just five hours, while others need nine or more. Determine your ideal amount, then plan ahead for important exams by studying early. That way, you can avoid cramming the evening before and get the adequate amount of rest you need.

Take practice testsThis is not only a beneficial studying technique, but also a strong strategy to manage stress. Completing practice exams allows your mind to acclimate to the test format as well as the process of recalling specific information from memory. This can be especially helpful for standardized tests like the ACT and SAT, which require great mental endurance and critical thinking.

Practice exams can also help you build your confidence as you continuously increase your score. Simply feeling prepared and confident on test day can help mitigate stress.

Exercise in the morningExercising can enable you to dispel anxious feelings, thus allowing you to feel more relaxed during your test. It can also wake your brain, leading to a potential increase in cognitive functioning. This tactic makes particular sense for the ACT, GRE, SAT, and so on, when you can simply run around your neighborhood before your exam session. If you are fortunate enough to have the liberty to set your own class schedule, try to place gym time directly before your most difficult course (i.e. the one that is most stressful).

Relax and trust your preparationBefore you begin a test, devote several minutes to thinking about your prep plan. Do not worry about how you could have studied more--just remind yourself that you prepared effectively and efficiently. If you are still feeling stressed, try a simple relaxation technique like taking several deep, slow breaths; closing your eyes for a few moments; visualizing success, etc.

Happy testing!

Time Management for High School Students

School bells, curfews, household chores. When you’re a high school student, it seems that your time gets managed pretty well… by someone other than you! Still you can get control of most of your time now and for the rest of your life, if you take time to pick up some time management skills.

Step 1: Marking time
Start time management the simple way. Instead of marking off the days of the week, use a calendar to fill in up-coming events. When you schedule something, make sure you also schedule the time it takes to get to and from the event. For instance, if your school day is 8:00 to 2:30 but you have an hour bus ride both ways, then your school day is really 7:00 to 3:30.

As well as scheduling school days and social activities, schedule chores. For instance, if it’s your job to take out the garbage or clean the cat box, write it on your calendar. That way, when you’re trying to study or in the middle of your favorite TV show, you won’t be interrupted by an irate parent.

Speaking of TV, if you have a favorite show that you don’t want to miss, write it down. Schedule everything for a week or if big events like your birthday are up coming, write them down, too. Use empty calendar boxes (like the ones after day 31) to keep track of future plans. (Next month basketball practice starts– [date]).

Now that you know what’s in the future, you should have a pretty good handle on the rest of your time. So, if homecoming is on the 6th and the history test is on the 7th, you can schedule extra history study time for the 5th. In addition, make it a point to take good notes that you can quickly review on the morning of the 7th.

Step 2: Use a To Do List
Use a small notebook and jot down things you need to do 1) today, 2) tomorrow, and 3) by the end of the week or later. Prioritize today’s list. If today’s list is too long, it’s time to regroup, break down, and move some items to tomorrow or further into the week. That isn’t procrastination; it’s time management. Procrastination is when you know you have to get something done, but agonize over doing it as time slips away. For example, if on Monday you get a large assignment that’s due Friday, break it into smaller parts and work on it all through the week, making your goal to have most of it done before Thursday’s study time.

Step 3: Schedule your time

• Schedule today’s “to dos”. Make sure you have transferred any important events from your calendar to your list. Also, be sure to schedule some “free time”. In addition to being a buffer for tasks that take longer than you expected, scheduling free time can help you deal with interruptions and with unexpected additions to your list.
• As new things come up, add them to your list. As you complete old tasks cross them off.
• If you have evening events— a date, a game, a practice —schedule study time before.

Step 4: Analyze your schedule
At the end of the week, take a look back at what you had to do and what you accomplished. See what worked and what didn’t work for you. Use both the hits and misses from this week in building a schedule for next week.

Time pointers

1. Where schoolwork is concerned, make every effort to stay current. In fact, when you get the chance, work ahead! That way when a teacher has a tantrum and assigns two chapters instead of one, you’ll have that much less work to do!
2. When you schedule your time, it’s a lot easier to say “no” when you need to. “I can’t work late, I need to study for a chemistry test” sounds better to your boss than “Nope. Sorry. I have other plans.” You can even cut off an interrupting phone call with, “I can’t talk right now. Can I call you back at 8:00?”
3. Build some flexibility into your schedule. One way is by scheduling frequent breaks. Another way is to give each “to do” more time than you believe it will take. That way if you need to call a friend for help with an assignment, you can do it at the end of a study time and not feel guilty for taking a few minutes to socialize. A flexible schedule will also help you keep on schedule and help you stay in control of your time.

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