Our tips will help you keep calm on the day of the exam and make the best use of your knowledge. This applies to all spheres of academic life – from writing college essays to the thesis defense.
Why Is There So Much Stress?
There are many questions and lots of emotions behind the exams: if it is important for higher education, for example, SAT, there is pressure from parents, and it is finally one of the first exams we go through. Besides, there are students who are very emotional, and therefore, the stress level begins to rise, especially when they start to have fewer classes and begin working independently. So, they often say "I will never have time to review it!", "I feel like I know nothing", etc.
You should take into consideration the fact that these are only impressions and fantasies, you just self-agonize and go off in all directions without taking reality into account. We help you to start with the essential skills to reflect on and organize yourself. All you need to do is make a good revision schedule and get started. We often realize that we have plenty of time to review. We just very irrationally spend it on unnecessary things. Subsequently, it seems to us that it is too late to take any action now. However, this is an illusion again, we invent it by ourselves to justify our passiveness. Let us stop looking for the excuses and just get down to business.
Avoid Panic on the Day of Testing
You should define all the factors that cause stress and anxiety that may influence your result. After that, identify the elements that depend on you and that do not depend on you. For example, the fact of having a particular topic on the exam does not depend on you. On the other hand, the fact of studying all the material depends on you only. Then, we propose you to reduce your stress by working on the elements that depend on you.
How to Prepare Properly?
For example, you should read all the material given, use a methodology to prepare well, identify the important words. In scientific subjects, it is advisable to read the entire statement to identify the questions that follow one another. The big risk is, of course, to immerse yourself in studying too quickly saying "quickly, I have only x hours," and reading the subject inattentively. Stress can disturb the ability to concentrate. On the contrary, studying in these stressful moments allows you to use all your abilities.
How to Reduce the Pressure?
The second important point is the management of your time for completing the tasks. In math or physics, for example, you should start with what you know how to do, without thinking too long on a question because then the time runs and the stress increases. If the exam is long, you can also decide to divide your time in advance: 20 minutes for the draft, 2 hours for writing; 20 minutes for re-reading, for example. Working on all these points of methodology allows you to be more relaxed at the exam: there will always be stress anyway, but you can limit it by working on everything that depends on you.
You can always use online essay help in order to get rid of the accumulated tasks. This will help you leave more time for the exam preparation.
How to Handle Stress During an Oral Exam?
While preparing, visualize yourself in front of the examiner. For instance, you can also think of choosing your outfit beforehand, your equipment, your journey to the exam center or university, and afterwards, think in advance about how the event will unfold: the moment you meet the examiner, where he/she is going to give you the question, the way you will prepare. It is important to practice the preparation to make an approximate but structured presentation. In fact, the goal is to minimize all possible effects of surprise. You must mentally prepare for everything that can happen. It's a bit like a sport: the fact of repetition of gestures dozens of times helps you to succeed.