So, it’s time for your big exam When you sit down to take exams do you have racing thoughts, intense feelings of dread, and/or difficulty concentrating? Maybe you have experienced test anxiety. Try these tips to reduce those feelings to rock that exam.
1. First, be prepared!
Being confident that you will pass the test can help reduce those anxious feelings. Try a few of these strategies.
- Study a little bit each day over a long period of time rather than cramming all that information in over a few days at a time. It gives your brain time to process the information.
- Schedule in your study time to make sure you do it.
- Track your studying to make yourself accountable. Habit trackers can be a great tool for keeping you accountable and organized like this one.
- Study in a similar place as your test will be. For example, study in a library or similar classroom that your exam will be located in. This study trick helps your brain recall information easier based on environmental cues.
- Get organized with a planner or calendar that can keep your studying on track! Try an app like this to help you organize your schoolwork and study routines.
- Use visuals to help you study. Consider concept maps as a visual aid to learn hard material.
2. Get some sleep!
Research shows that getting 7-9 hours of sleep is directly related to achieving optimal academic performance.
- Use an app like this to help you easily fall asleep and get an adequate amount sleep.
- Try a weighted blanket like this. Weighted blankets can help some people fall asleep and stay asleep for longer. (Weighted blankets are recommended to be about 10% of your body weight).
3. Practice relaxation techniques.
Practicing relaxation and mindfulness techniques like deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation prior to the exam will help your brain be able to perform these techniques when you are feeling anxious during your exam. (Trying these techniques before you try to go to sleep might also help you sleep!)
- Breathing. The Centre for Clinical Interventions has a great handout on Breathing Retraining to learn how to get control of your breath.
- Progressive muscle relaxation. Consciously tensing to relax muscles of the body. Check out this audio with progressive muscle relaxation here.
- Mindfulness. The Mindful Moment is a YouTube channel that provides guided meditation and mindfulness activities. Aura is an app that provides meditations geared towards sleep. Headspace app also has guided meditations to take on the go.
4. On the day of the exam, considers a quick technique to reduce anxiety.
- Try a weighted object. Simply putting a heavy backpack across your chest/lap for 10-15 minutes before your exam can help you feel calm.
- Try EFT tapping.
- Try the adapted dive reflex. Go to the bathroom and splash cold water on your face; alternately, bring a Ziploc bag full of cold water with you (place an ice cube in the bag before you leave the house and keep it in a cooler) – place it over your eyes for 60 seconds while holding your breath as long as possible.
If test anxiety is a constant struggle for you – reach out to your office of disability services or counseling center for support and strategies to overcome this.