Freaking out During an Exam

[fly1346]

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Just took my first final (only a lab final) others are late next week, and did extremely horrible, 12 wrong out of 40 questions. The reason im pissed is I studied alot for this 2 credit course, and knew all the material, but this is a common problem with me, I freak out during exams, its been going on my entire undergrad career, hence a lower than usual gpa (i believe)

There were sooo many questions I doubted myself on, others i read wrong, others i changed from rite to wrong answer... what should I do? Any tips, because most of my grades are dependent on my finals which I really dont want to mess up at this point
I just dont know what happens to my brain during an exam, all the hard work put to waste, when people who dont study nearly as much seem to get much better grade than I have. How do i stop from freaking out, and keeping a clear head during the exam

Any suggestions will help!
Thanks

 

[Confused2626]

Well, sounds like you DEFINITELY will need to take an MCAT prep course if you are a bad exam taker. They will help you critically analyze exam taking strategies.

 

[snurpy]

I think it helps if you do a lot of practice questions other than just swallowing all the text and memorizing it, hoping to spit it out later. It might be calming especially if the questions are similarly formatted to actual test questions. Use old exams etc.

 

[MilkmanAl]

70% is "extremely horrible?" Anyway, i agree with Confused that you should take a prep course if this is a recurring issue. If not, you'll probably be okay just taking a few practice tests.

 

[Isoprop]

Is there a "success center" or a "student resource center" at your school that can help with test-taking strategies. I would definitely take advantage of that.

 

[TexasPhysician]

There were sooo many questions I doubted myself on, others i read wrong, others i changed from rite to wrong answer... what should I do? Any tips, because most of my grades are dependent on my finals which I really dont want to mess up at this point
I just dont know what happens to my brain during an exam, all the hard work put to waste, when people who dont study nearly as much seem to get much better grade than I have. How do i stop from freaking out, and keeping a clear head during the exam

Any suggestions will help!
Thanks

Define "freaking out." If your brain just blanks, you might want to try test taking tips etc. If you actually have symptoms like palpitations, sweating, etc., you might want to see a doctor. I seem to remember some anesthesiologist telling me he took beta-blockers right before tests to relieve test anxiety. I'm sure other drugs work too.

 

[Ponger]

Define "freaking out." If your brain just blanks, you might want to try test taking tips etc. If you actually have symptoms like palpitations, sweating, etc., you might want to see a doctor. I seem to remember some anesthesiologist telling me he took beta-blockers right before tests to relieve test anxiety. I'm sure other drugs work too.

I had a friend who took Xanax before tests. I don't it changed his performance on tests, but it made them a lot more bearable to him.

 

[engineeredout]

Just took my first final (only a lab final) others are late next week, and did extremely horrible, 12 wrong out of 40 questions. The reason im pissed is I studied alot for this 2 credit course, and knew all the material, but this is a common problem with me, I freak out during exams, its been going on my entire undergrad career, hence a lower than usual gpa (i believe)

There were sooo many questions I doubted myself on, others i read wrong, others i changed from rite to wrong answer... what should I do? Any tips, because most of my grades are dependent on my finals which I really dont want to mess up at this point
I just dont know what happens to my brain during an exam, all the hard work put to waste, when people who dont study nearly as much seem to get much better grade than I have. How do i stop from freaking out, and keeping a clear head during the exam

Any suggestions will help!
Thanks

This is for BIO 205 right? Oh marvin.

Man I'm gonna be so awesome if I'm right.


And I got 13X wrong on it, so don't feel bad. I have a feeling the average is gonna be low cause that exam was BULL****. Its good not to freak out during exams but do NOT freak out over this test. The questions were worded so poorly theres just no way to win.

Plus its 180/1000 points, so 18% of your grade. You got 126 of those points. Its definitely not going to kill you as long as you actually went to lab and did all the assignments.