By Alizabeth Meadows
Whenever you think of a test, you start to get automatically stressed out. It’s a big thing that is worth a bunch of points and can seriously affect your grades, whether you do good or bad on it. Most people just stress and stress, study for hours, and when it’s done don’t feel any less stressed out.
When people hear the word “test” or “exam,” they immediately start stressing and studying a lot to prepare for it. However, whenever I am about to take a test, I remind myself that it’s just another assignment, even if it weighs more. By stressing yourself out about the test, you might do worse on the test than you would have if you were calm. Remember, if you didn’t know it was an actual test, you’d go slow and be a lot calmer.
For me, I usually prepare for a test by reviewing all my notes. When I review my notes, I take another piece of paper or flashcards to right down the really important facts and dates. I prepare by reviewing assignments I didn’t get a good grade on, reading the feedback left on it by teachers. I see what I did wrong and how I could possibly improve on it, and how that will possibly make my test scores better. Lastly, I take a deep breath, reminding myself that a test if just another assignment. If I calm down, take my time, and work slowly, then I will do well.
Before this semester, when I began to change my methods, I used to just study before a test. Try to not think about it until I had to. I realized that I wasn’t doing so well on tests because of this. I knew the information; I was just stressing too much about it. So, this semester I decided to change that, and it works a lot better than my previous semesters did.
Now that state testing is coming up fast and quick, just remember it’s just another assignment. Don’t stress too much about. Remember: take your time. Review all your semester’s work, breathe, and remember to take your time. If you stress your way through the test, you’re more likely to do worse than you would’ve if you had been calm. Breathe, take your time, stay calm and you will do well!
