test taking strategies

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I've always had varying degrees of test taking anxiety, and I feel like in medical school it's getting worse. I tend to to very well on quizzes but then on the exam have a rather lackluster result. I always pass without issue--in fact I don't think I've had an exam this year that I was seriously concerned I might fail--so it's kind of frustrating because I go into each exam pretty confident that I'll pass but also pretty confident that I won't impress myself with my score, however well prepared I am and however well I've done on practice exams/quizzes.

The big difference between the quizzes and exams seems to be my anxiety levels and the sort of errors I make. On quizzes, I'm usually just a little tense and, if I get a question wrong, it's because I didn't know the answer. On exams, on the other hand, I get physically anxious and a good percentage of questions I miss seem to be more because of not thinking clearly/stupid mistakes.

I've tried a few different strategies over the course of the year and none of them have really helped, and when I've approached faculty members/academic affairs about my concern their answer is usually some variation on "well, you're not failing" or "don't worry--you don't need honors first year to get a good residency." That may be true, but it is frustrating on a personal level to feel like I'm always under-performing and also having these issues on regular exams doesn't bode well for the boards next year.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Originally Posted by AMH0505

I've always had varying degrees of test taking anxiety, and I feel like in medical school it's getting worse. I tend to to very well on quizzes but then on the exam have a rather lackluster result. I always pass without issue--in fact I don't think I've had an exam this year that I was seriously concerned I might fail--so it's kind of frustrating because I go into each exam pretty confident that I'll pass but also pretty confident that I won't impress myself with my score, however well prepared I am and however well I've done on practice exams/quizzes.

The big difference between the quizzes and exams seems to be my anxiety levels and the sort of errors I make. On quizzes, I'm usually just a little tense and, if I get a question wrong, it's because I didn't know the answer. On exams, on the other hand, I get physically anxious and a good percentage of questions I miss seem to be more because of not thinking clearly/stupid mistakes.

I've tried a few different strategies over the course of the year and none of them have really helped, and when I've approached faculty members/academic affairs about my concern their answer is usually some variation on "well, you're not failing" or "don't worry--you don't need honors first year to get a good residency." That may be true, but it is frustrating on a personal level to feel like I'm always under-performing and also having these issues on regular exams doesn't bode well for the boards next year.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

It sounds like you know the problem. You are overly excited. You need to find a way to calm down....

Have you ever seen a "performance anxiety chart"? (see below link)

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=perfo...9,r:1,s:0,i:76

I definitely agree--a large part of my issue is performance anxiety. Has anyone found any good ways of getting over this?

Originally Posted by AMH0505

I definitely agree--a large part of my issue is performance anxiety. Has anyone found any good ways of getting over this?

In my case, I have not. I did mediocre on my pre-clinical exams and scored a good 20 points lower than I was projected on Step 1. So that sucked. However, as the subject matter changed to become more clinically relevant my performance markedly improved. I did much better on my Shelf exams and did great on Step 2. In the end, I got the exact residency I wanted, so I guess the earlier poor performance didnt make a huge difference.

Originally Posted by AMH0505

I definitely agree--a large part of my issue is performance anxiety. Has anyone found any good ways of getting over this?

i use a small dose of beta blockers. people can say what they like about using drugs and stuff but anxiety is a real medical condition and can be paralyzing. 15 mg propanolol works wonders

Research shows that cognitive behavioral therapy is highly effective for overcoming anxiety. I don't know much about it but a therapist may be able to help you.