Which describes you better on the morning of your exam?
Hectic and scattered. Exhausted and angry. Alarm blaring overslept. Grab your phone, punch up Waze to see how to get to the testing center, and realize you don’t have any time for breakfast, grab your coat and head out the door. Now, sit angrily in traffic and then miss the exit and have to turn around. The PAER podcast on the radio trying to squeeze out one more detail on the way in.
Or
Calm and cool. Nervous and anxious, but everything is under control and you’re ready. Walk out the door looking forward to getting this over with. Cruise to the testing center jamming out to your favorite music.
Each of these situations started at least the week before.
You know your test is coming. You chose the day. You know exactly when it and what time it is.
Make a list of the things you can do to make that morning as smooth and as easy as possible. Then, look at those things and see how much of that you can do the week or the night before your exam.
Then get those things done.
•Set alarm clock
•Set back up alarm clock
•Set coffee pot
•Put breakfast out
•Put out favorite testing shirt and jeans.
•Fill car with gas.
•Know where testing center is.
•Pack snacks for breaks
•Etc.
You can see how this list grows. There are tons of things you can do ahead of time to make exam day go smoothly. But even if you don’t write down this list and go through it, your brain still does. Your brain still works on this stuff. Your brain keeps you up all night recycling these things you have been avoiding. It tries to get you to think about them, or at least not forget them.
Head them off. Get out in front. Play offense and knock them out. Then, get a good night’s sleep. Get up feeling rested and ready to go.
No studying the day before or the morning of your exam. That means not even the PAER podcast or The Final Step. You’re done studying. Be confident and be done.
Brian Wallace
P.S.I keep getting emails about TFS 2.0.I’m loving it. The book is fantastic, and I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback on it, but if you don’t have a copy yet it’ll be a bit before you can get one. I’m optimistic that I’ll have it ready in September. Thank you for your patience.
