How To Mentally Prepare For An Important Exam

It’s not uncommon for students to feel overwhelmed with stress when an exam is coming up. This can be especially prevalent if it is an important exam, such as the final in a course, which will determine whether or not you pass the class. While some jitters can be a positive thing as they can help you to study hard and retain information, getting overwhelmed and stressed can be detrimental to your exam performance, and can impede how hard you study. This article will cover how to mentally prepare for an important exam to pass with flying colors. Whether it is a midterm or final, knowing what to do before the exam date will help you reduce stress and ace that exam!

1. Take Practice Tests

Going over your materials as you get closer to the exam date can start to make you feel overwhelmed. There’s so much to go through, and you may start to lose focus because you’re not sure which things you need to pay special attention to. On the other hand, taking practice tests can be a great way to see what you know, and what you need to study more. If you’re studying to become an insurance agent or broker, you’ll probably want to look at property and casualty insurance exam questions and answers, and if you’re studying to become a lawyer, looking at bar exam questions would be the way to go. Simply focus on one what you want to achieve, and try to answer as many practice questions as you can. With a little time spent on practice tests, you’ll be able to make a schedule for your studying that will help you retain the information better. You can also practice taking sample exams under timed conditions, which will give you an idea of how much time is available for each question, and how you prefer under added pressure. By simulating the conditions you’ll have on the day of the test, you’re better prepared for when it comes around.

2. Make Healthy Choices

Your brain needs the energy to work, and your body needs to have all the good nutrients in order to produce that energy. Making a healthy diet plan can be an incredibly beneficial part of creating the optimal conditions to get good grades, and knowing that you’re doing everything you can to create them can affect your mood positively. In order to boost your focus, avoid caffeine so that you can have a nice clear head. A lot of students tend to drink copious amounts of coffee while studying, but that can make you anxious which is something you want to avoid. Try finding healthy alternatives instead that will help you relax and focus without causing coffee-induced crashes and jitters. In a similar sense, this means eating a diet rich in complex carbs, healthy fats, and lean proteins, as well as avoiding processed foods and sugar. Doing small steps to help you take care of your body can put you in a much better mental state since it will provide you with more energy and a better feeling overall, and that can be really beneficial to your study sessions.

3. Get Enough Sleep

Similar to eating a healthy diet, sleep is very important for your brain as it is the time during which it processes all that you’ve learned throughout the day. Getting enough hours of sleep – at least 7 hours every night, will increase your ability to retain information and even form long-term memories. More than that though, when you’re sleep-deprived, you tend to be more sluggish, irritable, and are more likely to make mistakes. It can also take your brain longer to recall things, which is certainly not what you want when trying to answer a test question, especially when it’s timed! Your brain needs that rest in order to function properly, so it’s important that you don’t put yourself into the habit of staying up way too late for many nights in a row. It’s also important to note that it’s not just how much you sleep that matters but also when. Even though there are plenty of people that claim to be night owls – and that might be true to an extent, when you have something big like this coming up, it’s better to create a routine where you’ll be in bed by 11 pm, since some studies indicate that the best sleep is had between midnight and 2 am.

4. Include Some Downtime

Something as simple as watching stand-up can be an incredibly effective method of relieving stress, especially if it’s the type that makes you laugh out loud. It creates positive feelings within your body which directly benefits your mental state and helps suppress negative emotions like fear, anger, and anxiety. Watching comedy is a great way to take a break and distract yourself from studying long enough for you to refocus and go back at it again. If you push yourself into overdrive, you might start to lose not only the focus you need but also the motivation to study. When you give yourself relaxing breaks that help take your mind off things for a while, you’re entering a much better mental state, since your brain is recharged and ready to tackle the task once again. If you’re not a fan of comedy, that’s okay too – simply find something that will entertain you for 10-15 minutes, which you can easily start and stop doing, and you’re set.

5. Stay Away From Stressful People

Everyone is worried about how they’ll do on their exam, that’s perfectly normal. However, bringing other people’s moods down doesn’t do anyone much good. If you have a friend that’s so anxious it’s starting to rub off on you, reduce the amount of time you spend with them until you pass your exam. Similarly, if you have someone that’s being mean for whatever reason, and keeps implying that you’re not doing things right and that you won’t pass the exam, put them on hold, too. Just because others have a different way of studying doesn’t mean it’s wrong – so if you’re doing things differently from them, that’s perfectly fine as long as it provides you with the desired results. If you don’t live alone, you can also explain to your family, SO, or roommate that you’re going through some stressful time right now, and that you would appreciate it if they could be more supportive of you. Creating a secure and positive atmosphere around yourself can go a long way when it comes to getting you in the right mindset for your test.

While people need different things in order to mentally prepare for an important exam, taking practice tests, eating healthily, getting enough rest, having some downtime, and setting healthy boundaries are all things that are universally beneficial. You know yourself best, so if there are any other things that could help you feel better prepared, make sure to include them as well, and you’ll be sure to pass your exam with flying colors.