Test Prep Books/Effective Study Skills for Test Taking Anxiety

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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Is fear derailing you?

The more I work as a test prep performance coach the more I see how fear not only derails test takers, but immobilizes them. It is the single biggest cause of poor test performance.

What are they afraid of?  (And if you’re a fearful test taker and are reading this: what are you afraid of?) Doing poorly?  Failing?  Not living up to standards?  All kinds of consequences like not getting into the college of you choice, not qualifying for a scholarship, making someone (a teacher, parents, our yourself) disappointed?

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You know that phrase they use at raffles? “You have to be present to win.” The same is true of tests, as in life.

One thing I’ve noticed over and over again with people who have trouble with tests– they are flipping from the past (”Oh no, I didn’t study the right things”) to the future (”If I fail I’m going to lose my scholarship”). Though both statements may be true, going in either direction (past or future) is not helpful when you’re taking a test. At that moment, when you are reading and answering questions, you want and need to be one place and one place only: in the present.

Only by being present can we  do the job we need to do, at that moment. Only by being present can we develop the awareness that we’re veering off track, and then get back on track.

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Facing life's tests

I have good news and, well, not-so-good news for you test takers.

Let’s get the not-so-good news over with. Here’s the deal: we cannot choose most of the tests we face in life.

Now, here’s the good one. Drum roll, please…

We can choose how we’re going to face all those tests.

Are we going to have a miserable experience, crumble under the pressure, run away, or avoid challenges altogether?

Or are we going to find the strength and inner resources to rise to the challenges and fully actualize our potential?

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This is the third in a series of posts sparked by an article on Michelle Obama, written by Lynn Sweet,  about a talk Mrs. Obama had with high school students, telling them about her struggles with test anxiety.

In the article, Ms. Sweet also referenced two other First Ladies and their performance anxiety. For Laura Bush it was about public speaking. Hillary Clinton recalled that at age 4 she came home crying to her mother because a girl was pushing her around. Her mother taught her to stand up for herself: “My mother was afraid that if I gave in to my fears, it would set a pattern for the rest of my life.”

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This is the second in a series of posts about an article by Lynn Sweet in Politics Daily on Michelle Obama, her own struggles with test anxiety.

While the First Lady spoke to a group of high school girls in Denver, as part of a new mentoring program she is kicking off, Mrs. Obama gave her listeners a bit of practical advice on test preparation: “You’ve got to prepare for the tests, take them seriously because they are part of the measures, they’re part of the system. But don’t let these tests defeat you. Don’t let them define you.”

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Michelle Obama had test anxiety.

In a talk she gave to high school students,  First Lady Michelle Obama spoke about her own struggles with test anxiety.  “I was never a great standardized test taker,” she said. “So from a personal level, I would always get nervous and feel a great deal of anxiety over test-taking. So it was always a point of frustration for me personally.”

In talking about herself she is helping countless students across the country and around the world. Test anxiety is a very common problem and one that disempowers many students at all ages. For one of the most significant public figures in the world to be open about her own struggles with testing, and to have accomplished all that she has, shines a light into a subject that many students find hard to discuss and for which they receive little help.

In the next few posts I’d like to reflect on Mrs. Obama’s willingness to discuss her experience and how it actually can help many many others.  Thank you First Lady, for being so human!

And thank you, Lynn Sweet, in Politics Daily, for covering the story. This kind of sensitive, humane reporting is helpful to countless students, parents and teachers. To read Lynn Sweet’s article, go to   http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/18/what-made-michelle-obama-anxious-and-nervous/

Is there a pill for test stress? No.  Do I have a bag of magic tricks? No.

There’s no kit with a top hat and a wand that you wave over your head and then
Presto! You can now sail through tests without studying and without concentrating.

I can show you what to do. You have to finish the job.

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Have you ever wondered what the purpose of your life is?

Common answers are “success,” “happiness” or “satisfaction.”

While these are all worthwhile goals, here’s what I have come to believe: the purpose of your life is to face every challenge, every test, as a chance for you to become the person you are meant to be.

Life is a test for you to become your highest self.

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While I was writing my book, there was a knock on my door. It was Joe Rizzo, an older man who came to fix our chimney.

He asked me what I do for a living, and I told him simply that I coach people who take tests. He shook his head. “Life is hard,” he said, pointing his finger and jabbing it into the air. “Hard. You have to work for everything. You know what the problem is today? Everyone wants his tummy rubbed. They want things done for them. Whatever you get in life, you have to work hard for. Life is a test.”

He’s right. Life is a test…

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