Test Taking Tips

Sue Shellenbarger at the Wall Street Journal talks about some of the best ways to study for a test.

Here are my favorite points, restated:

1. Recall, not review

Taking practice tests, not just reading over your material, forces your brain to recall and apply the information you’ve learned.

2. Distractions are distracting

While all the teenagers I’ve met swear up and down that they can simultaneously watch tv, chat, surf the web, text, and study, the evidence tells a different story.  It’s both harder to encode information (get it into your brain) and recall information (get it out of your brain) when you are distracted.

3. Channel your inner budda

Staying calm helps you keep your focus on the test.

I worked with a tennis champ who had low SAT scores due to test anxiety. On the court, she used her nerves to get focused and amped up for a match. But on the test, that same nervousness made her panicky.

We worked on translating those tennis skills to the test. Once she realized she already knew how to stay calm in the face of pressure, she pulled up her score by 200 points!

Image credit: Wall Street Journal