Ever feel prepared for an exam?

[4thtimeretaker]

Every time an exam comes closer and closer, I get more and more nervous and feel that I am unprepared for it. This can be for a very EASY exam or even a super difficult exam. I find it hard to sleep the night before exams and sometimes sacrifice on sleep. I end up doing okay on the exams but I was wondering if I am alone in this (maybe because I am not studying properly) or do other people experience this too? I also attend a school that is A-F and has a GPA.

I was told by a 2nd year at my school that “you just keep studying as much as you can until the exam day and hope what you studied prepares you enough for the exam”.

Is there any way of avoiding this feeling of nervousness before each exam?

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[wanderingorion]

By taking more exams and policing yourself the night before to prevent/decrease the anxiety. I have a similar problem before big exams (MCAT, STEP1), and it would be really hard dealing with that before each exam. It might help to develop a "pre-test regimen," with relaxing activities (bath, a movie, exercise, etc.) to get your mind of your test. Unless your cramming the night before and are under-prepared, you will do/feel better about your tests

 

[Alkain]

It helped me to make a list of topics for the upcoming exam.
Then next to it I'd write number of passes on the material. I.e pass 1: watch lecture @2x, pass 2: create anki cards, pass 3: do the anki cards+review x2
If you structure everything it might give you some peace of mind knowing you're "done" going through multiple passes on each topic/lecture.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Never felt prepared for a test yet in med school. You just study your *** off and one day a test just kinda happens in your direction.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

Never felt prepared for a test yet in med school. You just study your *** off and one day a test just kinda happens in your direction.

Lol okay good, guess I'm not the only one. My classmates always say the feel "prepared"

 

[deleted1005514]

Lol okay good, guess I'm not the only one. My classmates always say the feel "prepared"

Your classmates are either putting on a facade or trying to convince themselves. There’s an infinite amount of concepts/material to learn in a finite amount of time. You’ll always “leave things on the table” when it comes to studying for an exam.

 

[deleted1005514]

Never felt prepared for a test yet in med school. You just study your *** off and one day a test just kinda happens in your direction.

This is exactly how I feel since I started.

 

[deleted1006988]

If it makes you feel any better, I always feel nauseous on exam days. Nervousness is always high regardless of how well I know the material. I just kind of live with it and hope the adrenaline boost has some positive effects. My friends say I'm too pessimistic but I believe fear to be great motivator.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

If it makes you feel any better, I always feel nauseous on exam days. Nervousness is always high regardless of how well I know the material. I just kind of live with it and hope the adrenaline boost has some positive effects. My friends say I'm too pessimistic but I believe fear to be great motivator.

Fairly certain we may be the same person lol

 

[stickgirl390]

Anki is life

 

[7331poas]

Your classmates are either putting on a facade or trying to convince themselves. There’s an infinite amount of concepts/material to learn in a finite amount of time. You’ll always “leave things on the table” when it comes to studying for an exam.

Meh. Disagree. If you are doing the anki cards and you know your general performance on past exams, you can feel confident.

 

[Fatalis]

Every time an exam comes closer and closer, I get more and more nervous and feel that I am unprepared for it. This can be for a very EASY exam or even a super difficult exam. I find it hard to sleep the night before exams and sometimes sacrifice on sleep. I end up doing okay on the exams but I was wondering if I am alone in this (maybe because I am not studying properly) or do other people experience this too? I also attend a school that is A-F and has a GPA.

I was told by a 2nd year at my school that “you just keep studying as much as you can until the exam day and hope what you studied prepares you enough for the exam”.

Is there any way of avoiding this feeling of nervousness before each exam?

the feeling is normal; from my first test in medical school to even taking my board exam this april; I always felt nervous/ under prepared... it is apart of medical training

 

[deleted1006988]

@4thtimeretaker We're a few months in now so I wanted to know how you're doing. Have the exam nerves gotten any better? I'm in the thick of anatomy right now and personally the fear has only intensified. 😱

 

[4thtimeretaker]

@4thtimeretaker We're a few months in now so I wanted to know how you're doing. Have the exam nerves gotten any better? I'm in the thick of anatomy right now and personally the fear has only intensified. 😱

So we're about to start anatomy in the coming weeks, I feel like my anxiety is definitely still there but I've transitioned from the super stressed to "f' it mentality". I feel like the stress is definitely going to come back once we start doing the anatomy stuff. I know one thing that has helped me for sure is keeping up and sometimes is previewing the lectures prior to class, that way I can actually know some-what of what is going in class. I'm 100% trying to transition to the point where I don't focus too much about the "prepared" feeling and can just go in and give the exam, but its so difficult 🙁

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I have felt prepared for every exam in med school so far. However, I have yet to feel like I know everything I need to know for an exam. There’s just only so much info you can assimilate. When I say I feel prepared, I mean I feel like I’ve studied and assimilated enough that I will pass the exam. I’ve dropped the idea that I’m going to ace every test, so prepared means I will most likely pass.

That mindset shift has done wonders for my test anxiety.