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Test Anxiety

psorcipsorci Member
in General 36 karma

Hey everyone,

I have made steady progress since the beginning of my studies five months ago. And as satisfying as seeing this progress is, when it comes to sitting and taking practice exams, I get terrible testing anxiety. It's almost as if my mind switches from on to off and everything I remember flies out the window-- all while my mind feels like its wandering in a million places. I can sit and take a section, two, or even three and perform well, but as soon as I sit down to take a full length PT, my mind shifts to panic mode. I began meditating daily in February and this seems to help and exercise is also a part of my daily routine as well, but I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to dial in and focus better on practice exams and to alleviate testing anxiety. I am sitting for the July exam and any advice would be helpful! Thanks in advance!

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  • MIT_2017MIT_2017 Alum Member
    edited May 2019 470 karma

    Meditation has helped me as well. I think the best (albeit obvious) tip is just repetition. Each time you take a PT, try to identify what the biggest mistake you made was.

    Did you misread question stems because you felt so much pressure you were rushing to the answer choices? Did you spend too much time agonizing over one passage in RC that you ultimately left yourself with but a few minutes for the last passage?

    Try to pick one thing you did poorly, and between then and your next PT do some honest reflection on why you did what you did, and how you plan to ensure that you won't make that mistake again. Focus on fixing this ONE thing for your next PT.

    Taking a PT and feeling like you did 9 things wrong can be overwhelming, and you may end up going to take another PT without having really targeted any one of them, simply telling yourself "keep your cool, my anxiety caused all of my issues last time." Then, inevitably, you make very similar mistakes yet again. From my experience I've found isolating specific mistakes and really agonizing over just one or two at a time has lead to better improvements

  • drbrown2drbrown2 Alum Member
    2227 karma

    @psorci
    Keep doing those individual sections so you get used to the pacing and attention without the PT anxiety. Never score your sections or your test right away. I felt a small bit of anxiety before PTs that I really wanted to score high on, and when I got stuck on a question it really interrupted my concentration. I would score the test right away and feel disappointed in my performance. Doing so hurt the thoroughness of my review, and I realized I was being too results oriented. Your PT score doesn't matter. What really matters is your Blind Review score. You can then focus on drilling specific areas of the test you feel you need to improve on. PTs are for practicing timing, BR is for improving understanding. The score will improve naturally as you put in more work, and your timing during the PTs will improve as your understanding improves.

    If you care less about your PT score, you won't be as prone to anxiety when you sit for a PT! Keep doing all the other things you are doing as well. Mindfulness and exercise will help you with not only the test, but every day life.

  • psorcipsorci Member
    36 karma

    Appreciate the feedback! Thanks, y'all!

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