Handling Stress during the Test

The biggest stress monster will be the test itself. Fear not; there are methods of quelling your stress during the test.

WHAT ARE “SIGNS OF A WINNER,” ALEX?

Here’s some advice from a Kaplan instructor who won big on Jeopardy!™ In the green room before the show, he noticed

that the contestants who were quiet and “within themselves” were the ones who did great on the show. The contestants who

did not perform as well were the ones who were fact-cramming, talking a lot, and generally being manic before the show.

Lesson: Spend the final hours leading up to the test getting sleep, meditating, and generally relaxing.

Keep moving forward instead of getting bogged down in a difficult question. You don’t have to get everything right to achieve a

fine score. The best test takers skip difficult material temporarily in search of the easier stuff. They mark the questions that

require extra time and thought. This strategy buys time and builds confidence so you can handle the tough stuff later.

Don’t be thrown if other test takers seem to be working more furiously than you are. Continue to spend your time patiently

thinking through your answers; it’s going to lead to better results. Don’t mistake the other people’s sheer activity as signs of

progress and higher scores.

Keep breathing! Weak test takers tend to forget to breathe properly as the test proceeds. They start holding their breath without

realizing it, or they breathe erratically or arrhythmically. Improper breathing interferes with clear thinking.

Some quick isometrics during the test—especially if concentration is wandering or energy is waning—can help. Try this: Put

your palms together and press intensely for a few seconds. Concentrate on the tension you feel through your palms, wrists,

forearms, and up into your biceps and shoulders. Then, quickly release the pressure. Feel the difference as you let go. Focus on

the warm relaxation that floods through the muscles. Now you’re ready to return to the task.

Here’s another isometric that will relieve tension in both your neck and eye muscles. Slowly rotate your head from side to side,

turning your head and eyes to look as far back over each shoulder as you can. Feel the muscles stretch on one side of your neck as

they contract on the other. Repeat five times in each direction.