Tips to Feel Confident before and during the Writing Exam
Many students feel nervous before and during the test. This is a completely normal psychological condition known as performance anxiety. There are a few reasons why you may be experiencing this type of anxiety. For instance, you may have achieved poor results on similar tests, you think that you’re unprepared, or you have a fear of failure. Whatever may be causing your test anxiety, know that there are ways you can overcome it and feel confident prior to and during every exam.
Understand Your Fear
You’re nervous about the writing exam because you fear something, which is why you need to figure out what you’re afraid of. Maybe you don’t want to get a low score or you think that you’ve not studied hard enough to pass. Whatever the case may be, keep in mind that you can’t have control over what will be on the exam. Do your best to analyze your fear and figure out what is causing your anxiety. Once you understand what you’re afraid of, you’ll be able to have a more positive attitude before and during the exam. Blocking negative thoughts will allow you to focus solely on the test and perform better.
Prepare Well
You’re less likely to be worried about the exam if you take your time to prepare for it. Preparing for a test means paying attention in class, actively reading the materials, and studying ahead of the exam. Of course, you’ll also need to practice your writing skills.
“To demonstrate your knowledge about a subject during a writing exam, you should understand what key information words like define, illustrate, explain, and summarize mean,” notes Tim Miller, a professional writer who works for a popular paper writing service called College-Paper. If you need papers for a certain assignment and choose to hire a legit writing service make sure to check online reviews first. In case you’d like to learn more about the company Tim works for, you can find a detailed college-paper review online. In order to prepare for a specific writing exam, it’s always a good idea to learn the material with the test format in mind. Find out more about the test from previous years and come up with a studying strategy that will help you prepare for it.
If you have a lot of time to prepare for the exam, you can find ways to anticipate the questions. For example, you can determine what the major themes of the subject are by analyzing the course outline. Check your notes to remind yourself of what the professor emphasized in class. You can also prepare yourself for different types of questions by brainstorming with a study group.
Learn How to Manage Your Time
Some students are afraid to regularly check the clock and know how much time they have left to finish the test. It simply increases the pressure they feel and might get too anxious as a result. Nevertheless, to achieve a good score on your writing exam, you will need to learn how to manage your time properly. Take the first few minutes to carefully determine how much time you need for each question. Doing this will reduce anxiety and pressure, as well as help you come up with an efficient strategy for finishing the test on time. You can determine how much time you need for a question by timing your answers on practice exams.
Get a Good Night’s Sleep
One of the easiest things you can do to boost your confidence for an exam is to get a good night’s sleep. Apart from helping lower your stress and anxiety, sufficient sleep will boost your memory and concentration. Although a majority of college students are used to pulling all-nighters before an exam, this can actually have an incredibly negative effect on your performance.
Bottom Line
Nearly every student experiences some form of test anxiety at least a few times during their college years. However, what most students don’t realize is that you can overcome that anxiety and gain confidence if you use a different strategy to prepare for the exam. From now on, have a positive attitude when you’re both studying and doing the test, take your time to prepare for each exam, read the questions carefully, and learn how to manage your time.