Mindset before taking a practice section or PT

btownsquee

Oftentimes, when I sit down to take a practice section or a PT, I tend to psych myself out. I try not to care about the score or how many questions I get wrong, but just trying not to care doesn't really work for me. What are some things you tell yourself or do to get out of your head and genuinely not care about how you do on the test?

I'm not talking about where you don't take the questions seriously--but you take the test in a way where you don't care about doing well in terms of the score, but care about taking the test in a strategic way and just doing your best.

tringo335

@akistotle posted a great video on this that may help https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/12984/test-anxiety-youtube-video

Alex

I usually wake up super early, go for a run, eat a big breakfast (this has been proven to reduce anxiety; even if you have to force it down...) and then just kind of get to it. You always have to remember that this is just a test. A practice test literally counts for NOTHING. You know you're not as good as you can be at this test and PTs are the best way to figure out what you can do to get better.

Sami

@btownsquee said:
Oftentimes, when I sit down to take a practice section or a PT, I tend to psych myself out. I try not to care about the score or how many questions I get wrong, but just trying not to care doesn't really work for me. What are some things you tell yourself or do to get out of your head and genuinely not care about how you do on the test?

I'm not talking about where you don't take the questions seriously--but you take the test in a way where you don't care about doing well in terms of the score, but care about taking the test in a strategic way and just doing your best.

I tell myself before taking a timed portion that I will not judge myself on how many I get correctly. I will only judge myself on how I take the section. So if I get anything wrong, it will just mean I need to learn or drill it. It means nothing more than that and I can always increase my understanding during blind review. Timed portion is to test out my test taking strategies and to see if it will maximize my potential and that's it. So, if all I judge myself is on how I take the test, the stakes on answers being correct go down and I am able to relax a lot more.

btownsquee

@tringo335 @"Alex Divine" and @Sami I'll watch the text anxiety vid, have a bigger breakfast, and I'm going to literally say what @Sami posted to myself out loud. THANK YOU!!