Test Prep Gems

Everyone has had test anxiety at some point. No matter how hard you studied, prepared for the test, or how well you knew the subject matter, when entrance test day arrives you blank out, become nervous or can’t seem to get it together. Being a little nervous prior to a test is very normal and if channeled correctly actually can help with your focus and success in taking an entrance test. So what causes test anxiety and how can you deal with it?

What Is Test Anxiety?
Test anxiety is actually a type of performance anxiety or a feeling someone might have in a situation where performance to do well really counts. Sitting for an entrance test is one of these situations. Test anxiety can cause “butterflies”, tension, increase in heart rate, or sweating. In severe cases, test anxiety may have students feeling like passing out or vomiting.

What Causes Test Anxiety?
Test anxiety is a reaction to anticipating something stressful. Like other anxiety reactions, test anxiety affects the body and the mind. When you’re under stress, your body releases adrenaline, which prepares you for danger. The physical symptoms result in sweating, a pounding heart, and rapid breathing. These sensations might be mild or intense. Test anxiety can also be the result of focusing on negative thoughts such as worrying about not being prepared, concern about forgetting what has been learned, or that the test may be too hard. Negative thoughts reduce focus and cause distractions on an entrance test. Finally, individuals who are natural worriers or “perfectionists” have the potential for increased test anxiety. These individuals find it hard to make, or accept, mistakes, thus putting more pressure on themselves and increasing the potential for test anxiety.

How to reduce/manage Test Anxiety?
The following five (5) areas will aid in reducing and managing test anxiety:

1. Prepare for the entrance test: Find the appropriate test prep resources to assist you in taking your entrance exam and start early. The more time you give yourself in preparing, the more comfortable and confident you will become. There are many resources which should be considered including books, on line practice entrance exams and counselors/tutors for hire. Some may find studying a test prep book is sufficient for them while others may need to study a test prep book, take several practice tests and hire a counselor/tutor. All of these resources can be found by searching the internet.

2. Enlist a tutor/counselor: Your teacher, your school guidance counselor, or a tutor can be useful resources to talk to if you always get extreme test anxiety. Utilizing another set of eyes and ears in your preparation is always a good option to help identify where problems needing to be addressed exist.

3. Use stress to your advantage: Stress is your body’s warning mechanism and a signal that helps you prepare for something important about to happen. So use it to your advantage. Instead of reacting to the stress by dreading, complaining, or fretting about the entrance test, take an active approach. Let stress remind you to study well in advance of a test. This will help keep your test anxiety from spinning out of control.

4. Self Esteem: Stop thinking that the world is closing in on you. Get determined to achieve what you desire. Think the right way, be determined to win, and win you will. You are going to make decisions from time to time that are not the best ones. Learn from them, don’t dwell on them. Expect to make mistakes! If you don’t make mistakes, you are either the luckiest person alive or you aren’t doing anything. Make a plan to prepare for your entrance exam and stick to it. Study what is working and what is not, and make adjusts accordingly. You will see dramatic changes your level of test anxiety and in your self esteem.

5. Manage your health: Take care of yourself. Take care of your health by getting enough sleep, exercise, and proper nutrition prior to an entrance test. All these will keep your mind working at its best. For some people, simple breathing exercises can also help your body see these as a signal to relax and manage your test anxiety.

There are many additional products listed on this site in the “Test Prep Catalog” section found to the right of this page which will help in preparing for an entrance test. Everything takes time and practice, and learning to beat test anxiety is no different. Although it won’t go away overnight, facing and dealing with test anxiety will help you learn stress management, which can prove to be a valuable skill in many situations besides taking an entrance exam.

In researching admission requirements to a college or university an important task is to know each institution’s ACT and/or SAT requirements. Admission requirements vary from school to school. Some put more emphasis on grade point average, extracurricular activities, or your essay and your ACT or SAT scores are optional. Others require your standardized test scores and is the primary assessment vehicle. Others have minimum ACT or SAT requirements for admission regardless of your grade point average. So researching to know what each institution seeks is vital.

Also a couple of colleges no longer require prospective students to submit SAT or ACT scores as part of their admission requirements. Their reasoning is concern about the validity of standardized test scores in predicting academic success along with the degree to which test performance correlates with household income, parental education and race. Some schools that have made standardized test scores optional have found that they have attracted a more diverse student body with no decline in academic ability.

Some colleges will only accept one of the standardized test scores. Usually schools on each coast lean towards the SAT scores, while schools in the middle of the country base their admission requirements on your ACT scores. This is not a fast and true rule, so again research each school.

If you haven’t figured it out, do your homework for each school to determine their admission requirements. For all it will be one or more of the following; standardized test scores, others your high school curriculum, grade point average, writing ability, extracurricular activities, or evidence of character and talent.