Exam Day Tips

1. Give yourself enough time to study before the exams so that you are able to get a good night’s rest. Sleep is extremely important for focus and healthy exam days.

2. Stop and Reset! If you blank or get too stressed during an exam, take a few breaths to focus yourself and maintain a good test taking headspace. If you do not know an answer don’t ponder on it forever. Star it, skip it, and go back to it once everything else is filled out.

3. Focus on your own paper! Don’t look at everyone else and compare your answers or speed to anyone else.
Once the exam is over…move on! You can’t change anything when it’s over, so no matter the grade or what you think the outcome was, just know you tried your best.

4. Take a breath! Exams are stressful for everyone, especially for those who do not have proper exam day tips! With midterms coming up and everyone holding their breath until the first day of break, it’s time for some real test taking tips to help you breathe.

First things first… sleep, sleep, sleep! Give yourself enough time to study, so that on the night before the exam you are able to get a healthy 8-10 hours of sleep. This way, your thoughts will be fresh in your mind on exam day, and more importantly, you will be able to focus.

Once school starts and the nerves kick in, make sure to breathe and possibly do some breathing exercises to help keep a positive mindset. If a test problem begins looking too hard and you blank on the answer, stop and reset. Take a breath and try your hardest not to get in your own head. Take a few breaths to focus yourself, and maintain a positive outlook. If you still cannot think of the answer, star or mark the question and move on. This will leave you much more time to do other problems and come back to the difficult ones.

A pretty obvious tip, which plenty of teachers will tell you, would be to focus on your own paper. Though teachers are correct that cheating is absolutely never the answer, this tip is for a different reason. Do not try and compare answers to friends, or especially your speed. Everyone works at their own pace, and as long as you mind the time, everything will work out when you try your hardest.

The final and most important tip is to move on. Once the test is over there is nothing you can change, and worrying about it causes more stress overall.