How to Mentally Prepare Before an Exam
Most students dread the idea of taking exams. Love them or hate them, exams are part of educational life. Many students can feel extremely anxious and worried in participation of an exam, and that’s completely normal. Oftentimes big exams in high school and college consist of a lot of information and this can be overwhelming. Here are a few tricks to help ease your mind:
Rewrite information
The first trick is to rewrite the information. In the digital age that we are living in, we often forget about how useful handwriting is – especially when trying to remember information. For example, some people use this trick when they need to memorize lines or monologues for a play. Doing this can help ease a lot of your anxiety so that you feel less worried about not knowing the information. This trick also engages some good old fashioned skills like handwriting that can help to transfer information into our memory. The act of handwriting can also help to ease the stress that comes with exam preparation.
Deep breathing
Another trick is deep breathing. It sounds a bit silly but if you are feeling anxious, it helps tremendously. Generally, people use deep breathing as a technique when they feel panicked. Slow, calm breathing patterns have been shown in numerous studies to be one of the simplest ways to calm yourself down. By setting aside some time to breathe during study sessions (for example, 3-5 minutes of breathing every 45 minutes) you are sure to improve your mental and physical state.
Get rest
The last trick is to get a good night’s sleep the night before your exam. Sleep is very important for your mental stability. Cramming in a whole bunch of studying the night before and staying up late isn’t going to help as much as you think it might. For most people, a lack of sleep results in a lack of focus. Sleep is one of those often overlooked, but extremely powerful tricks that calm your mind and help you to prepare for an exam. Therefore, make sure to end your study session at least a couple of hours before you go to sleep and aim for 7-8 hours of rest.
Exams can be stressful, but the above tricks can help to ease the worry. Re-writing the information helps you retain the information better. Deep breaths help you to relax so you feel less anxious. Getting a good night’s rest helps you to focus and feel better in general.
Miles Smart Tutoring, an online tutoring service for all ages, can assist you when it comes to preparing for an exam. We have helped students receive over $24 million in grants and scholarships due to an increase in test scores and we were the recipient of the 2019 and 2020 ‘Best of St. Petersburg in the Area of Tutoring Service’ award. For more information about our services and what makes us different, visit our website or give us a call (813) 328-3036.
