Test Anxiety

[libbyruth]

Hi everybody! Does anyone have any good tips for dealing with test anxiety. I never had a problem with it until I started medical school...I am an MSI.

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[yellowcat322]

Hi everybody! Does anyone have any good tips for dealing with test anxiety. I never had a problem with it until I started medical school...I am an MSI.

I take it you don't go to a P/F school? I find that it helps not to study too late the night before. Plan your studying so that you are done a couple of hours before bedtime and then use those hours to watch a movie or read or do anything else that you enjoy that has nothing to do with school. I sometimes hit the Jacuzzi with a glass of red wine right before bed. I also listen to classical music on my drive to school in the morning -- works wonders.

 

[Antigunner]

Just completely ignore the test until you walk in the door to take it...

Seriously, though - the most important thing is to not go crazy by focusing on the test itself 24/7. Just focus on what you're studying, and if you start to get too stressed, take a break. You'll find that you remain much more calm if you refresh yourself when needed instead of locking yourself in a small room with your books for 18 hours straight. Good luck, and remember - med school is fun!

 

[rpkall]

Try not to study every minute until you go to sleep the day before. If you have a "study day" at your school, just do two 4 hour blocks of good, solid studying the day before. Everything else, do before. That way you're really ready and you can relax starting at 8 or 9 PM the night before the test. That usually works for me, pretty well, so I don't totally stress out the night before.

The next day, just try to clear your head and realize that you're not defined as a human being by your grades. Whether you care about your patients is not defined by your grades; whether you're a decent, competent physician is not defined solely by your grades either. Medicine is a team sport; if you care about your patients, are willing to seek the answers from the right source when you don't know them, have a curious mind, and can think your way out of a paper bag, there's a specialty for you--somewhere--where you'll be happy.

My two cents.

 

[PBMaxx]

Knowing (a) that you have been dilligent in keeping up with the material (I don't know of a single med student that doesn't do this, so I am assuming that you are no different); (b) everyone else is JUST as anxious as you-- even if they are playing it cool; (c) maintaining healthy study/sleep/eating/exercise/hygenic (you'd be surprised at how often this one becomes a problem) habits while studying; and (d) by not being afraid to take a break and slack off for a bit. Hell, a couple of rounds at the local bar couldn't hurt either-- if that's your thing.

A lot of anxiety comes from normal worries that get blown up b/c you think that your worrying about them is abnormal. Keeping a little bit of stress on you will actually improve your performance-- not too much though. You'll do fine.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

those all sound like good suggestions.

or you can always pull an all-nighter and be too exhausted to realize you're anxious; worked for me on several occasions

 

[medgirl20]

I like to sit on the floor with my notes before the exam I don't astually read them but people think I'm studying so don't disturb me, that way I don't get caught up in the last minute panic also sitting down immediately in the exam hall so I don't have to talk with other people. I'm very anti-social before exams but it works for me.

 

[libbyruth]

Thank you all for your replies. It does help to realize that everyone else is just as nervous too. I get to feeling like I am the only one, or like no one else can possibly be as nervous as I am. Thanks for the perspective. And thanks for the tip about slacking off. Yesterday we had our biggest exam of the year so far. It was over everything (biochem, anatomy, cell and immunology) that we have had in the last five weeks. This is the first year our professors have tried to write USMLE style questions, so we are guinea pigs for some really tough questions, instead of the types of questions that are on old exams. And we had our lab practical a week before that. So for the past two weeks, I have not really let myself relax much, and that definitely contributed to my anxiety yesterday.

 

[CaliforniaBound]

Thank you all for your replies. It does help to realize that everyone else is just as nervous too. I get to feeling like I am the only one, or like no one else can possibly be as nervous as I am. Thanks for the perspective. And thanks for the tip about slacking off. Yesterday we had our biggest exam of the year so far. It was over everything (biochem, anatomy, cell and immunology) that we have had in the last five weeks. This is the first year our professors have tried to write USMLE style questions, so we are guinea pigs for some really tough questions, instead of the types of questions that are on old exams. And we had our lab practical a week before that. So for the past two weeks, I have not really let myself relax much, and that definitely contributed to my anxiety yesterday.

I understand what you mean about being a guinea pig! Our school just switched to a brand new curriculum this year, and we are the "experimental" group to see if it works! Our teachers are trying to write board style questions too, so their sometimes "pathetic" attempts at that can get frustrating. I suffer from test anxiety too, and I find that I can know the material really well before the test, and then get there, panic, and choke. I'm trying to learn how to take multiple choice tests better. Does anyone know any tricks for doing better on those tests? It's not a matter of me knowing the material, but I always get screwed on the two choices that I narrow down to. I always tend to choose the wrong one!

 

[yellowcat322]

I understand what you mean about being a guinea pig! Our school just switched to a brand new curriculum this year, and we are the "experimental" group to see if it works! Our teachers are trying to write board style questions too, so their sometimes "pathetic" attempts at that can get frustrating. I suffer from test anxiety too, and I find that I can know the material really well before the test, and then get there, panic, and choke. I'm trying to learn how to take multiple choice tests better. Does anyone know any tricks for doing better on those tests? It's not a matter of me knowing the material, but I always get screwed on the two choices that I narrow down to. I always tend to choose the wrong one!

THe way I approach multiple choice exams is, I would go though it once without allowing myself to dwell on any one question. If I'm not sure of the answer I eliminate all the choices I can and then move on the next Q. Then when I'm done, I go through the exam a second time double checking every Q -- Even the obvious ones (you have no idea how many times I caught a stupid mistake on a question I thought was obvious the first time around) and the ones that I left blank before I just make the best guess I could (and do not double guess yourself--just go with your gut on these). I find that this method works because it prevents me from overanalyzing every question the first time through and helps me catch mistakes on the 2nd try. Also, it's true what they say about your brain working on a problem even if you're not actively thinking about it. That's why when you're stuck, coming back to it later usually helps.

 

[starwisher]

Yellow cat I love your suggested way of going over a test twice. I'm one of those people who goes through a test pretty quickly and then is afraid to go over it again for fear of changing right answers to wrong ones. I usually do at least okay on my tests, but walking out I am always way anxious about finishing too quickly. Maybe I'll try your suggestion on the next test and see if it helps me out.

PBMaxx, that is pretty naieve of you to think that all med students are dilligent in keeping up with the material. I've always been horrible at studying and I find it really hard to study regularly. For me even if I am able to study in the first few weeks of a test block I can't keep it up and end up having to study a lot right before the test to catch up. I'm trying to train myself not to do that, but it isn't a given that all med students know how to study consistently.

I've found that if I don't study much at all I am extremely anxious, if I study a monderate amount I'm only slightly anxious and if I study an enourmous amount I am again extrememly anxious. The best way to lessen my axiety is to remember that there is no way to know everything, so be comfortable with the amount you know and make a reasonable guess on what you don't know. The longer I work on a problem that I'm not sure about the answer to, the more nervous it makes me, so if I don't know an answer with in a few minutes I guess and move on (as I said I think I might start marking those questions better so that I know I wasn't sure about that answer and look at it again before turning in the test). Logic can often times get you to the right answer if you don't remember for sure. I am horrible at rote memorization and find when I try to memorize for a test I screw myself up and can't get the right answers. If I understand the material logically it helps me to be able to work out answers instead of having to rely on something being memorized.

 

[Hurricane]

I know someone who has severe test anxiety, and none of her behavioral modifications helped. She finally went to see a psychiatrist about it, and after trying a few things, she prescribed propanolol - which is a treatment for performance anxiety - to take before her exams. It's helped her tremendously. So if all else fails, it's something to consider.

 

[PBMaxx]

PBMaxx, that is pretty naieve of you to think that all med students are dilligent in keeping up with the material. I've always been horrible at studying and I find it really hard to study regularly. For me even if I am able to study in the first few weeks of a test block I can't keep it up and end up having to study a lot right before the test to catch up. I'm trying to train myself not to do that, but it isn't a given that all med students know how to study consistently.

Then the Boards are gonna own you.

 

[starwisher]

Yep, I'll admit the boards scare the **** out of me with my study habits. That is why I'm trying to train myself to study more consistently.