Test Prep Books/Effective Study Skills for Test Taking Anxiety

What's your body doing?

Let’s start out with this rule of thumb: 

When you are thinking of of an upcoming test (or anything else in the future), remember to breathe.

Here’s a very common experience for test-takers:  “My test is next Tuesday (or tomorrow). YIKES!” Your heart rate goes up, your blood starts rushing, your stomach wrenches. You know the routine.

I don’t know about you, but often, when I’m thinking about something that I have coming up later today or tomorrow or next week (and it doesn’t have to be as stressful as a test), I find myself getting a little amped up. What do I mean by “amped up”?  Read the rest of this entry »

One of the chief ways we become distracted is by our own thinking. We start thinking about the past or the future or about something else other than what’s going on now, in the present. When we’re distracted we lose focus and then it’s much harder to progress towards our goals.  Our stress goes up and our performance is compromised –  whether it’s on a test or when we’re facing any challenge in life. We literally fall off the path.

An example of this is when we become distracted by our own old fears. I can’t handle this, I’m not good enough, I can’t keep it together…and other negative thinking. “Negative” here means minus-ing, taking away from.  But taking

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Stop pulling your hair out!

Here’s a quick and vital tip:  when you are feeling stressed pay attention to your body.

Much of what we think of as stress is exactly that, thinking.  We start worrying about something that hasn’t yet happened (like an upcoming test) or fretting over something that has already passed (like the answers we put on the test this morning– Did I circle a or b?!).  As soon as this kind of thinking kicks in we start amping up.  We begin feeling anxious.

So here’s the tip:  the feeling is just that, a feeling, something that’s going on in our bodies. Yes, it might be

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Today a college student came to see me for the first time. She is having a lot of trouble with tests. She studies hard, but a few days before the test a mounting self-doubt takes over and by the night before a test her head is whirling around, she’s tossing and turning in anxiety and she can’t sleep. She’s consumed with thoughts that she won’t pass, and that doing poorly will shoot her chances to get into a good graduate school.  As she spoke I noticed a few things…..

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A student, I’ll call her Sophie, came to me for coaching recently. She’s been having terrible problems with tests, saying she “freaks out” every time she takes an important exam.

I asked Sophie to explain what she meant by “freak out,” she described the intense static going on in her mind while she attempts to answer the questions. “I keep thinking, I don’t understand the question … I didn’t study the right things … I don’t remember anything … I’m not going to get this answer right … My scholarship won’t be renewed.” Her voice trailed off. She looked discouraged and dejected as she whispered, “It’s a mess.”

Rings a bell?

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