"Psych Out": What to Do Before and During Your Tests

Are you a pencil-biting self-doubter who changes answers? Someone who rushes and runs? This blog preps you to be a confident and savvy tester who knows how to win at this game!

As many of us head into final exams, there are a few things to keep in mind to increase the chances of success. It isn’t only about how well you have prepared, it is also about how you approach the test.

Before the Exam

The hours before:

Try to be well-rested, well-fed, and hydrated. Avoid drama or upset. If you are hyper-avoidant and might lose track of time or oversleep, set phone alarms and consider getting an accountability buddy to walk over with you.

Pack ahead:

This sounds obvious, but as you are genius-ifying yourself through studying, you may forget the practicalities. Pack your charging cord for any devices you will need, your student ID card if you are required to have it, sharpen any pencils, have an eraser, and pack extra pens. If you are allowed, consider bringing a drink and snack to fuel you.

Plan for your weaknesses:

If you get distracted, consider trying some earplugs and sitting in a quiet corner of the room. Some profs may even let you turn your desk around to face a back corner or wall.

If you get easily cold or hot, plan to dress accordingly.

If you get test anxiety, prep the kind of phrases you would say to an anxious friend (You are smart and well prepared. You know a lot of this material. You’ve got this!).

Exam Arrival

Give yourself plenty of time to drive or walk to get there early. Don’t add extra stress by cutting it close.

Get yourself set up, your device plugged in, or your pencils and erasers laid out.

If you don’t get test anxiety and you have lots of time before the test starts, you can quietly look through your notes.

If you do get test anxiety or have little time before the test starts, then instead of frantically trying to learn one last fact, take a few minutes to take some deep breaths and give yourself a pep talk (like those phrases you prepared!).

During the Test

Beginning the test:

Have a game plan. Know the number of questions on the exam and their point value. Estimate how much time per question you should spend to finish in the allotted time. You might give yourself a half-time check point, such as “by 10am I should be at question 30”.

Tackling the test:

Read the test through in three passes.

1. First, answer only those questions for which you are certain of the answer. For the rest, plan to return to them and don’t get worried about them. Future you will take care of them.

2. In your second pass through the exam, answer those questions for which you have some idea of the answer or in which you are able to eliminate some options (see below for more on this).

3. Only in your final pass through the exam should you worry about those questions that have you totally stumped. Research shows that you will do much better if you first answer the easy questions- it calms you down and builds your confidence up, which will help your memory retrieval.

Consider the important words in the question (and also consider that some parts may be unimportant). What is the questions really asking? This will help you avoid jumping to quick conclusions, and also will force you to read the question more carefully.

Little wording differences matter!

• Look for negative words or prefixes that complicate the statement or change its meaning.

• The prefixes (un-, im-, miss-) will alter the meaning of the statement and make it negative.

• Double negatives make a positive. For example "not uncommon" actually means common.

• Watch out for "NOT TRUE" and “EXCEPT”. For these, remember to reverse your procedure and eliminate truth.

For multiple-choice questions:

If you tend to get tricked by distractor items (“oh wow, the Hemlockian principle, that sounds important. I should probably know that. I bet that’s the answer!”), consider reading the question first with the answers covered up. In many cases, you should be able to fill in the correct answer in your mind, and then when you uncover the answers, you can just see which one best matches what you already thought. In this way, you avoid getting distracted by alternative choices.

If you are unsure what the right answer is, but you know that some of the choices are wrong, mentally cross out the wrong answers. That way, you won’t get distracted, and it is usually easier to narrow it down if you know which ones are NOT right. Eliminating two alternatives quickly may increase your probability to 50/50 or better.

If you are unsure, eliminate unlikely answers first. Look for any wording that could make a statement false. Remember, there could be a false part to an otherwise true statement, so read and evaluate the whole statement. Students often read the question, see some truth, and quickly assume the entire statement is true.

Look for extreme modifiers that tend to make the question false: always, all, never, best, everybody, or only make it more likely that the answer is false.

Look for qualifying words, which tend to make an answer true. Qualifiers (sometimes, typically, seldom, often, many, usually, probably) increase the likelihood that the statement is true.

If you have no idea what the answer to a question might be:

• Select answers from the middle range, not the extremes. For example, if it is about the height of a mountain, eliminate 20,000 feet (high), and 1,000 feet (low). Then choose between 8,000 feet and 11,000 feet.

• Select answers that are longer and more descriptive. Longer (true) answers tend to contain more detail and more qualifications that make them true.

• Shorter (false) answers may be created quickly as throw-aways or be too simple to be true.

• Similar answers give you a clue! One of them is usually correct, the other is disguised and incorrect.

Finishing the Test

TAKE YOUR TIME!!! After you have finished the whole exam, recheck your answers and make sure you picked an answer that sounds logical.

All done and nervous and want to run away? You can stop and meditate or go to your happy place (see my earlier blog on relaxation strategies) and then recheck your answers.

Make sure you haven’t skipped any questions. Try to use all of the time to make sure you have done the best job you possibly can.

Don’t change your answers unless you remember new information. Rely on your first impressions. The answer that comes to mind first is often correct. Nervously stewing in self-doubt and then changing answers can do more harm than good.

For computer-administered tests particularly, avoid watching for patterns in the responses. Noticing that the last four answers are "c" is not a good reason to change your answer. Test orders are often generated randomly- there is NO pattern!

All done? Give yourself an exhausted pat on the back! And take in exactly how much knowledge you just demonstrated and how much more you know now than at the beginning of the class!