Study Skills, Test-Taking Strategies, & Managing Test Anxiety

When we’re students, school is like our job. It’s essential to prioritize it. In doing that, we must learn and understand what works for us individually as students. Today, we’re diving deep into study skills, test-taking strategies, & managing test anxiety, the last of which can connect to a previous article of mine, How to Deal with Academic Anxiety.

Study Tips for Student Success

Effective reading, active studying, and note-taking will improve learning and memory. Favorite song lyrics, movie quotes, book lines, and riding a bicycle are things that people remember by heart based on having made those ideas active and having created triggers. Making ideas active and creating triggers will allow you to learn, grow, and remember these ideas. Mnemonic devices are helpful in order to remember things. Acronyms, acrostics, music, rhythm, rhymes, stories, associations, visualizations/pictures, and chunking are all different mnemonic devices that, in conjunction with rehearsing them, aid in remembering, and therefore, studying. Choose the best option for you.

It’s also a good idea to choose an appropriate environment to study in. You want to be comfortable without being too comfortable. If possible, keep the room a little chilly to keep you alert. Most importantly, make sure you aren’t surrounded by distractions.

Use Your Resources

There are a number of great websites to use as studying resources. flashcardmachine is a great resource for studying, for example. Study groups are also great, social ways to study actively.

Writing a song or putting information to a beat, making games, making podcasts, writing flowcharts, writing formal outlines, typing, flashcards, drawing concept maps or doodles, or replacing text with pictures are all ways to remember things actively. Each individual person’s learning style will affect what works for them.

Making podcasts is a truly effective way to actively remember what you’re studying. Putting ideas and concepts into your own words, including background music, being able to download and take it anywhere, and being able to listen to your podcast a few times will make the information active and easier to comprehend.

Purpose, Motivation & Communication

Additionally, identifying a purpose for studying the material will truly allow the information to process more than studying aimlessly, or without motivation. Identify what you’re trying to understand from studying the material.

Tutors, classmates, course directors, lab specialists, the student success department, and other staff are great resources if you’re struggling. Communicating with classmates about classwork and schedules is extremely beneficial. Furthermore, communicating with course directors/professors for feedback, suggestions, or aid in classwork can be advantageous, as they want to help their students. Every school has departments, whether it’s a counseling department, an academic advisory department, or whatever resource you specifically need to achieve your goals and be successful. It cannot be stressed enough to use those resources! There are a variety of resources and tips available to utilize and implement in your routine in order to study and remember things effectively and long-term. It’s your job to actively engage with these resources, tools, and strategies.

What is Test Anxiety?

Test anxiety can come from a variety of factors and impact academic performance. Some physical symptoms of academic/test anxiety include headache, nausea, excessive sweating, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, lightheadedness/feeling faint. These can occur no matter how prepared you are for the test. Some emotional symptoms of academic, or test anxiety include anger, which could be directed at the teacher or yourself, helplessness, with a mentality of “I’m never going to understand this, so why try?”, fear, specifically of failure, for example, and disappointment in oneself or disappointment coming from others, such as family. Some behavioral/cognitive symptoms include difficulty concentrating, thinking negatively, and comparing yourself to others. You need to remind yourself that everyone is different, and comparison merely creates more anxiety.

How Do We Begin to Deal with Test Anxiety?

Acknowledging if you have test anxiety, and having a sense of where you’re at as an individual, are the first steps towards success and management of our issues. The two components of test anxiety are emotionality, which involves physical and emotional symptoms, and behavioral and cognitive effects, which come from the vicious cycle of anxiety. This cycle includes a trigger, followed by fear, followed by stress, followed by worry, followed by anxiety, and then it repeats until you break out of it. You change these symptoms and stop these cycles by changing the way you think or changing your cognition. You can do that by maintaining continuous positive dialogue. Then you can start to change the way you feel and the way things affect you. Then, you can start to change your behavior, including your actions and reactions.

It’s important to discover your own best, which involves identifying strengths and weaknesses in regards to taking tests, identifying the relationship you see between your body’s reactions and the way you prepare for tests, e.g. the best time to take tests or the best approach, and identifying your preferred learning style–visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic. It also involves identifying if you’re intrinsically or extrinsically motivated and how that source of motivation impacts testing tests or your ability to study for tests, as well as identifying changes you can make in the way you prepare for tests that will help you take advantage of and utilize your learning style preferences. Learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, can affect test/academic anxiety, and it’s important to address if one has a learning disability, potentially get diagnosed, and utilize coping strategies for managing their disability.

How to Get Ready for a Test?

• Review class lesson plans before class.
• Take quick notes with text-like abbreviations (w/, u, b4, btw, etc.).
• Read class material before class.
• Take notes that aren’t in the book, and highlight parts of the book the teacher emphasizes.
• If the instructor has repeated it more than twice, it’ll probably be on the test.
• Study for at least four hours a day leading up to the test.

Good Study Habits

• Studying comes before social activities.
• Plan your breaks based on life schedules.
• SAVE everything when you’re working on it.
• Avoid plagiarism – double check citations and sources for accuracy.
• Use your RESOURCES.

Tips for General Student Success

• Time management/set schedules (study on work breaks, understand prior commitments, and study around them).
• Be in contact with your instructor as often as possible (use your resources).
• Place all important dates for school in your main planner/calendar.
• Remember this is your second job–it’s a priority.
• Find ways to REST – don’t ever be tired while taking a test.

Stay Away From:

• Distractions – TV, movies, non-soothing music, computer games, annoying people
• Studying while tired; recharge your battery and find ways to gain energy so you can stay focused, like power naps and a full, good night’s sleep
• Cramming – don’t procrastinate studying; you will not remember much, especially for your future career
• Abusing substances (excessive caffeine, alcohol, drugs, etc.)

Overcoming Procrastination

Focus on one task at a time; clear your desktop to stay focused on coursework. Take mini (5-15 minute) breaks doing something completely unrelated to studying. Be positive and enthusiastic about the coursework. Reward yourself–have a reward system for your accomplishments. Remind yourself that there’s no need to be perfect–perfection isn’t attainable or real, so just do it, do your best, and don’t strive for perfection.

Last Word

Maintain balance, give yourself credit, push yourself creatively without forcing anything, and do not procrastinate—it only creates more problems! Remember to put yourself, your health, and your happiness first and foremost. Like I said, maintain a balance between school, work, life, and whatever else you personally have going on. It seems like a simple concept, as it’s definitely much easier said than done, but it’s essential to remind yourself of it and to actively work toward achieving it.

SEE ALSO: How to Deal With Academic Anxiety