10 Last minute test day tips
EAT BREAKFAST. This may seem like an eye-rollingly dumb thing to start this list out with. But imagine prepping for months only to be tired and hungry on test day and not be able use your brain to recall everything you learned. Sometimes the easiest, most obvious things cause our biggest problems. Protein.
SLEEP. Don’t stay out all night partying, and definitely don’t try to cram information the night before. Going in with a stress free attitude will make a WORLD of difference. Would you rather test knowing you got this? Or scared and nervous and overthinking everything?
Arrive early. Most people just do not do well with new places. Even if it’s in a familiar place, there’s going to be some kind of new structure you’ll have to adapt to that day. The less stress you have before testing, the better you’ll do.
Stop racing other students. So many students tell me they get anxiety because other students are flipping pages faster than them. That doesn’t mean those people are getting everything correct. And even if they are, so what? Worry about yourself. No one else is paying attention to your speed, I promise.
You don’t have to go in order. If you see a problem that’s less stressful, go for that one first. Just be absolutely sure bubble in the right number. There’s no rule that says you can’t do question 3 before question 13. Get a high score, don’t worry about rules.
If you get stuck, move on. Every problem is worth the same amount of points. You may feel a great sense of satisfaction getting a question right after 30 minutes of working on it. But then you’ve missed 30 other questions. Good job. Let go of ego.
Bubble in at the end. Looking for a solution to skipping around, and don’t think you can keep the silly bubbles straight? Circle everything in your packet as you go, and at the end, go and bubble everything in. This should only take a minute or so. If you’re really stressed about it, it’s a viable strategy.
Eliminate wrong answers. Stress can impact our memory come test day. You may not immediately know what or why the answer is what it is. But, you can always eliminate what’s obviously not correct. From there, it may become a little more obvious what the question is looking for.
STOP LOOKING AT PREVIOUS ANSWERS. This is the second most common problem students complain about. “The last three answers were all C, the next one can’t possibly be.” Except it absolutely can be. That is something our brain tells us, but has no actual bearing in standardized tests. If I were creating the ACT, I would make every answer C just to see if students actually try each problem correctly.
Read. The. Question. The absolute, undisputed number one reason students get anything wrong ever is because they did not read the question properly. You may think you did, but you didn’t. And you can bet they’ll put answers they EXPECT you to get as bait answers. Read every word, start to finish. And when you get an answer, read it again. Is is 205 OFF of a price, or 20% OF a price?