Hopefully you listened to the latest edition of the PAER podcast where I interview the Amazing Alana. During the episode, she chronicled her journey from failing the PANCE to passing on the second try. She graciously spoke a lot about her lack of “test taking skills” and about her anxiety.
Those two are major factors on exam day. I can’t tackle both topics all at once (I’ll be focusing on test taking skills in the February edition of Physician Assistant Exam Scholars), but for right now, I do have something to help you with the anxiety.
No, it isn’t from the pharmacy.
There are a few ways you can deal with anxiety. Some of them are effective, but some of them make things worse, much worse. I’m sure by now you’ve tried some nefarious methods to alleviate some anxiety. You know, the methods that remove anxiety temporarily, but are barely short-term fixes.
I’m talking about long-term fixes. A few years ago, I wrote a short booklet detailing the logistics of beating test anxiety. It isn’t just theory, it’s down-in-the weeds tactics, meaning it’s what you can physically do to overpower anxiety. Now it isn’t easy, and it isn’t a one-and-done kind of thing. Just this week, as I prepared to interview Alana, I found myself using these same techniques. Why?
Because I was nervous. I’d never done an interview. I needed a way to calm myself down and go with the conversation.
Do you think Buddhist monks never gets mad? Of course they do! But they have techniques and training to get over it.
After you go through all of the material from No More Test Anxiety, will you still have test anxiety? You betcha. It’ll creep in every single time. Here’s the difference. If you start practicing the techniques that I teach NOW (on small quizzes and tests and EORs), you’ll build up your prowess at battling anxiety. These are skills; like any other, the more time and practice you have the better. This isn’t an overnight fix. Maybe one or two of the techniques will help in a pinch, but like any other skill, you can use it at first, but the more you practice the better you’ll be.
Anyway, the No More Test Anxiety Package is available today for a short time. This package is made up of the short booklet I spoke about already, and also includes a video/audio recording of a presentation I gave to a group of PA-S3s before their exam. The presentation is a killer and covers my philosophy on dealing with anxiety in depth.
In the hopes that you get better sleep before exam, go check out NMTA before, like the Holidays, it’s gone before you know it.
https://wallacedigitalmedia.samcart.com/products/n…
Brian Wallace