How to Stay Calm during your College Midterm
College midterms are a completely different beast from high school tests as sometimes 20% or so of your grade can be determined by a single midterm. That’s a lot of pressure to put on one exam.
And sometimes your grade can be affected not just by how well studied you are, but by how stressed you are going into that midterm. So, to combat the stress and anxiety of college midterms, here are a few quick tricks to help keep yourself calm during exams.
Be Prepared
An easy way to calm your nerves when going into an exam is to make sure that you have everything you’ll need. The night before, organize everything for the next day including collecting working pens, your student ID, and any notes that you want to look at before the exam or are allowed to have during the exam. Go over where the exam is taking place and know how early you want to be there.
If you eliminate the possibility of stressing over not having something for the midterm or running late due to confusion, it’ll be one less thing on your mind during the midterm.
Find the Zone
Before you do the exam take some time to create a mental focus. This could be as the exam is being passed out or even as early as that morning. The point is to get yourself in the headspace to take the exam. Center your thoughts around the test and block out everything else. Don’t bring the stresses of your outside life into the exam.
Be Your Own Hype Man
Hype yourself up. “You’ll pass, no matter what. No matter if you studied or if you’re sick. You got this.” Fake it ‘til you make it. Give yourself a confidence boost and carry it into that exam. No one determines the outcome of an exam other than yourself and if you go into an exam feeling defeated then chances are you’ll start to spiral during the exam.
Even if you can’t be confident enough to say “I’ve got this 100%”, still pick yourself up. Know that you’ve probably picked up on more information than you think you have. Even if you don’t know all 100 questions, but you know 73, that’s great! That’s more than you knew at the beginning of term.
Breathe
Using breathing exercises during stressful times can center you and bring down your stress level. If you’re prone to anxiety and are worried about panic attacks during a midterm, or you just find yourself anxious, take a moment to pull away from the midterm and breathe.
Take a deep breath in for 4 seconds, hold it for 7, and then breathe out for 8. Repeat until you feel you’re under control. Don’t worry about time, you’re spending less time centering yourself then you would be panicking and getting stuck on a single question.
You got this!
Looking to take notes efficiently? This video will help you take great notes online using Google Docs!
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