Be Calm
The best way to do poorly on a test is to psych yourself out. If your mind starts thrashing about wildly, it will have a hard time settling on the right answers. There are a number of preventative measures you can take, beginning weeks, or even months, before you take the test. Buying this book was a good start: it’s reassuring to see all the information you’ll need to ace the test in a compact, manageable form. But here are some additional tips to keep in mind:
Study in advance.
If you study at regular intervals leading up to the test, rather than cramming the night before, you’ll remember things more easily and feel more confident.
Be well rested.
Get a good night’s sleep on the two nights leading up to the test. If you’re frazzled or wired, you’re going to have a harder time buckling down and concentrating when it really counts.
Come up for air.
Don’t assume that the best way to take an hour-long test is to spend the full hour nose to nose with the test questions. If you lift your head occasionally, look about you, and take a deep breath, you’ll return to the test with a clearer mind. You’ll lose maybe ten seconds of your total test-taking time and will be all the more focused for the other fifty-nine minutes and fifty seconds.