The countdown has begun. Your date with THE TEST is looming on the horizon. Anxiety is on the rise. The butterflies in your stomach have gone ballistic. Perhaps you feel as if the last thing you ate has turned into a lead ball. Your thinking is getting cloudy. Maybe you think you won’t be ready. Maybe you already know your stuff, but you’re going into panic mode anyway. Worst of all, you’re not sure of what to do about it.
Don’t freak! It is possible to tame that anxiety and stress—before and during the test. We’ll show you how. You won’t believe how quickly and easily you can deal with that killer anxiety.
Lack of control is one of the prime causes of stress. A ton of research shows that if you don’t have a sense of control over what’s happening in your life you can easily end up feeling helpless and hopeless. So, just having concrete things to do and to think about—taking control—will help reduce your stress. This section shows you how to take control during the days leading up to taking the test.
On a separate piece of paper, jot down (in pencil) anything you identify as a source of your test-related stress. The idea is to pin down that free-floating anxiety so you can take control of it. Here are some common examples to get you started:
Take a few minutes to think about the things you’ve just written down. Then rewrite them in some sort of order. List the statements you most associate with your stress and anxiety first, and put the least disturbing items last. Chances are, the top of the list is a fairly accurate description of exactly how you react to test anxiety, both physically and mentally. The later items usually describe your fears (disappointing Mom and Dad, looking bad, etc.). As you write the list, you’re forming a hierarchy of items so you can deal first with the anxiety provokers that bug you most. Very often, taking care of the major items from the top of the list goes a long way toward relieving overall testing anxiety. You probably won’t have to bother with the stuff you placed last.
Take one minute to list the areas of the test that you are good at. They can be general (“electricity”) or specific (“using Ohm’s law to calculate voltage”). Put down as many as you can think of, and, if possible, time yourself. Write for the entire time; don’t stop writing until you’ve reached the one-minute stopping point.
Next, take one minute to list the areas of the test you’re not so good at, just plain bad at, have failed at, or keep failing at. Again, keep it to one minute, and continue writing until you reach the cutoff. Don’t be afraid to identify and write down your weak spots! In all probability, as you do both lists, you’ll find you are strong in some areas and not so strong in others. Taking stock of your assets and liabilities lets you know which areas you don’t have to worry about, and which ones will demand extra attention and effort.
Facing your weak spots gives you some distinct advantages. It helps a lot to find out where you need to spend extra effort. Increased exposure to tough material makes it more familiar and less intimidating. (After all, we mostly fear what we don’t know and are probably afraid to face.) You’ll feel better about yourself because you’re dealing directly with areas of the test that bring on your anxiety. You can’t help feeling more confident when you know you’re actively strengthening your chances of earning a higher overall test score.
Now, go back to the “good” list, and expand it for two minutes. Take the general items on that first list and make them more specific; take the specific items and expand them into more general conclusions. Naturally, if anything new comes to mind, jot it down. Focus all of your attention and effort on your strengths. Don’t underestimate yourself or your abilities. Give yourself full credit. At the same time, don’t list strengths you don’t really have; you’ll only be fooling yourself.
Whatever you know comfortably (that is, almost as well as you know the back of your hand) goes on your “good” list. Okay. You’ve got the picture. Now, get ready, check your starting time, and start writing down items on your expanded “good” list.
After you’ve stopped, check your time. Did you find yourself going beyond the two minutes allotted? Did you write down more things than you thought you knew? Is it possible you know more than you’ve given yourself credit for? Could that mean you’ve found a number of areas in which you feel strong?
You just took an active step toward helping yourself. Notice any increased feelings of confidence? Enjoy them.
Here’s another way to think about your writing exercise. Every area of strength and confidence you can identify is much like having a reserve of solid gold at Fort Knox. You’ll be able to draw on your reserves as you need them. You can use your reserves to solve difficult questions, maintain confidence, and keep test stress and anxiety at a distance. The encouraging thing is that every time you recognize another area of strength, succeed at coming up with a solution, or get a good score on a test, you increase your reserves. And, there is absolutely no limit to how much self-confidence you can have or how good you can feel about yourself.
This next little group of exercises is both physical and mental. It’s a natural follow-up to what you’ve just accomplished with your lists.
First, get yourself into a comfortable sitting position in a quiet setting. Wear loose clothes. If you wear glasses, take them off. Then, close your eyes and breathe in a deep, satisfying breath of air. Really fill your lungs until your rib cage is fully expanded and you can’t take in any more. Then, exhale the air completely. Imagine you’re blowing out a candle with your last little puff of air. Do this two or three more times, filling your lungs to their maximum and emptying them totally. Keep your eyes closed, comfortably but not tightly. Let your body sink deeper into the chair as you become even more comfortable.
With your eyes shut, you can notice something very interesting: You’re no longer dealing with the worrisome stuff going on in the world outside of you. Now you can concentrate on what happens inside of you. The more you recognize your own physical reactions to stress and anxiety, the more you can control them. You may not realize it, but you’ve begun to regain a sense of being in control.
Let images begin to form on the “viewing screens” on the back of your eyelids. You’re experiencing visualizations from the place in your mind that makes pictures. Allow the images to come easily and naturally; don’t force them. Imagine yourself in a relaxing situation. It might be in a special place you’ve visited before or one you’ve read about. It can be a fictional location that you create in your imagination, but a real-life memory of a place or situation you know is usually better. Make it as detailed as possible and notice as much as you can.
Stay focused on the images as you sink farther back into your chair. Breathe easily and naturally. You might have the sensation of stress or tension draining from your muscles and flowing downward, out of your feet and away from you.
Take a moment to check how you’re feeling. Notice how comfortable you’ve become. Imagine how much easier it would be if you could take the test feeling this relaxed and at ease. You’ve coupled the images of your special place with sensations of comfort and relaxation. You’ve also found a way to become relaxed simply by visualizing your own safe, special place.
Now close your eyes and start remembering a real-life situation in which you did well on a test. If you can’t come up with one, remember a situation in which you did something (academic or otherwise) that you were really proud of—a genuine accomplishment. Make the memory as detailed as possible. Think about the sights, the sounds, the smells, even the tastes associated with this memorable experience. Remember how confident you felt as you accomplished your goal. Now start thinking about the upcoming test. Keep your thoughts and feelings in line with that successful experience. Don’t make comparisons between them. Just imagine taking the upcoming test with the same feelings of confidence and relaxed control.
This exercise is a great way to bring the test down to earth. You should practice this exercise often, especially when the prospect of taking the exam starts to bum you out. The more you practice it, the more effective the exercise will be for you.
Whether it is jogging, walking, biking, mild aerobics, pushups, or a pickup basketball game, physical exercise is a very effective way to stimulate both your mind and body and to improve your ability to think and concentrate. A surprising number of students get out of the habit of regular exercise, ironically because they’re spending so much time prepping for exams. Also, sedentary people—this is a medical fact—get less oxygen to the blood and hence to the head than active people. You can live fine with a little less oxygen; you just can’t think as well.
Any big test is a bit like a race. Thinking clearly at the end is just as important as having a quick mind early on. If you can’t sustain your energy level in the last sections of the exam, there’s too good a chance you could blow it. You need a fit body that can weather the demands any big exam puts on you. Along with a good diet and adequate sleep, exercise is an important part of keeping yourself in fighting shape and thinking clearly for the long haul.
There’s another thing that happens when students don’t make exercise an integral part of their test preparation. Like any organism in nature, you operate best if all your “energy systems” are in balance. Studying uses a lot of energy, but it’s all mental. When you take a study break, do something active instead of raiding the fridge or vegging out in front of the TV. Take a five- to ten-minute activity break for every 50 or 60 minutes that you study. The physical exertion gets your body into the act, which helps to keep your mind and body in sync. Then, when you finish studying for the night and go to bed, you won’t lie there, tense and unable to sleep because your head is overtired and your body wants to pump iron or run a marathon.
One warning about exercise, however: It’s not a good idea to exercise vigorously right before you go to bed. This may make it hard to fall asleep. For the same reason, it’s also not a good idea to study right up to bedtime. Make time for a “buffer period” before you go to bed: For 30 to 60 minutes, just take a hot shower, meditate, or simply relax.
Conscious attention to breathing is an excellent way of managing test stress (or any stress, for that matter). The majority of people who get into trouble during tests take shallow breaths. They breathe using only their upper chests and shoulder muscles, and may even hold their breath for long periods of time. Conversely, the test taker who by accident or design keeps breathing normally and rhythmically is likely to be more relaxed and in better control during the entire test experience.
So, now is the time to get into the habit of relaxed breathing. Do the next exercise to learn to breathe in a natural, easy rhythm. By the way, this is another technique you can use during the test to collect your thoughts and ward off excess stress. The entire exercise should take no more than three to five minutes.
With your eyes still closed, breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose. Hold the breath for a bit, and then release it through your mouth. The key is to breathe slowly and deeply by using your diaphragm (the big band of muscle that spans your body just above your waist) to draw air in and out naturally and effortlessly. Breathing with your diaphragm encourages relaxation and helps minimize tension. Try it and notice how relaxed and comfortable you feel.
The biggest stress monster will be the test itself. Fear not; there are methods of quelling your stress during the test.