You are in the middle of your Spanish exam. Instead of remembering how to conjugate estar, worries are rattling around your head like maracas gone wild. Thoughts like, “I’ll never pass”, ”Why didn’t I study harder?” and “I’ll never graduate” all clamor for your attention. How on earth are you going to conjugate estar with all of this nervous chatter in your head? Fortunately, there are techniques that can help qualm such runaway thoughts.

One method is the thought-stopping technique. Imagine a red and white stop sign with eight sides. Picture the word STOP in the middle of the octagon. Now imagine hearing the word “stop” out loud, either by you or someone else. This will draw your attention away from your racing thoughts, even if just for a second. This is a way of training your brain to regain control. If you return to your racing thoughts (which you likely will), that’s okay. Simply remember the word “stop” again. With practice, you will be able to regain control of your mind. And practice makes…perfecto!

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Take a workshop on Avoiding Test Stress and Anxiety at The Study!

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True-false questions can seem like a deceptively simple two-option answer. Here are a few tricks to make sure you don’t misstep:

• As long as there is no guessing penalty, try to make an educated guess. Leaving a blank would be criminal. After all, you have a 50% chance of being right!
• Words such as “always,” “never” and “every” indicate that a statement must be true all of the time. These types of words usually lead to an answer of “false.”
• Words such as “sometimes,” “generally,” and “usually” mean that, depending on the situation, the statement can be true or false. Such words frequently result in an answer of “true.”
• Most true-false tests have more true answers than false answers. So if you’re at the end of the true-false section and you feel like you bombed it, go back and count. What’s your true to false ratio? If you have more false than true answers, you may want to go back and revise the answers about which you are unsure.
• If there is any part of a statement that is false, then the whole statement is false. HOWEVER, just because a portion of the statement is true, does not mean that the whole statement is true. Got it?

Want more helpful Test-taking Tips? Take a workshop at The Study!

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We’ve all been guilty of pulling the all-nighter, but it’s actually one of the worst things you can do in terms of test performance.

If you can’t get the recommended eight hours of sleep the night before a test, try to get a minimum of three to five, so you’ll be rested enough to focus. And don’t forget to set two alarms the night before—one on your alarm clock and one on your phone.

Multiple choice exams may not seem so challenging when compared to essay tests, but sometimes they can stump even the most studious students. Here are a few tricks that can help you improve your chances of becoming a multiple choice champ:

• Read the ENTIRE question SLOWLY and try to come up with an answer yourself—BEFORE looking at the options. Then look down to see if your response is on the list of choices. Sometimes the answer options can plant crazy ideas in your head, if you are unsure. Go with your first gut response—that’s usually right.
• Cross out answers you know to be incorrect.
• For questions that have “All of the above” as an answer option, see if there are at least two correct statements. If so, “All of the above” will likely be the correct answer.
• A positive answer choice is more likely to be correct than a negative answer choice. So when in doubt, go with the positive!
• More often than not, the choice with the most information is the correct answer. So if you are completely unsure of an answer, choose the longest one.

For more information on multiple choice tests, take a workshop: http://www.loyola.edu/department/thestudy/studyskills/workshops.aspx.

One of the best ways to absorb study material efficiently is to put the main formulas, concepts and key terms on one sheet.

Carry it with you and read it everywhere you go, from Starbucks to The Study. Look at the sheet until the professor tells you to put everything away and write down all of the formulas and lists you need immediately on the back of the exam. This way you won’t have to struggle to remember them during the test.

For more strategies on test prep tips, take a workshop: (www.loyola.edu/department/thestudy/studyskills/workshops).

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