Reducing Exam Anxiety and Improving Concentration...(3)

Improving Concentration

• Some people like to keep a pad of paper nearby as they work so that they can jot down or write out interruptive thoughts and distracting ideas. By doing this you don't risk worrying that you will forget about these tasks, and you acknowledge that the concerns are important enough to warrant attention, but not so important that they must come before your work.

• It is often a good idea to "park" ideas that are bothersome and tend to distract. This idea involves setting a time when you will deal with a particular problem or concern and leaving it behind temporarily while you focus on other things.

• Try to determine a clear goal for what you want to accomplish for the learning session. This may assist you in focusing your attention on the specific tasks at hand, one by one, and provide you with important feedback about your progress.

• Try to focus on the task at hand and avoid looking into the potential longer term consequences of doing well or poorly which often leads to catastrophizing. .do the most important tasks first so that you can know that anything else that comes to mind as a distraction is less important than the thing you are doing.

• Try to maintain an "I'll try to do the very best I can under the circumstances" attitude rather than an "It must be perfect" one.

• Learn to recognize when a distracter is more important than the task you're presently doing. Deal directly with the cause of that distracter whenever possible. Sometimes by removing the cause of a major distracter, it is possible to save time that would be wasted worrying later on.

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Reducing Exam Anxiety and Improving Concentration...(2)

Ok, you still might be anxious...

If you've got this far and you still feel that concerns you have about being anxious have not been taken care of, then it is time to consider how you are thinking about the exam. First, put the exam in perspective. Determine the value of the test or exam in terms of the course grade from your syllabus. Try to calculate your existing grade in the course and determine what grade you require to reach a certain objective in your course. Assume you will continue at least as well as you have so far in the course and calculate how much will be required to get the grade you would really like. Try to get a sense of where you're likely to be after the exam if you continue with your present level of achievement. Sometimes exams are worth relatively little compared to the total for the course and so it may not be worth getting overly worked up about this exam. (Some exams, of course, are worth relatively more and should be approached accordingly, with greater time carefully self-testing in preparation)

Reducing Exam Anxiety and Improving Concentration...(1)

Reducing Anxiety in the Exam Room

Some students feel anxious only during the exam or test. Some ways of reducing anxiety during the test follow:

• Peruse the whole exam to discover which questions you are able to do with relative ease and plan to do these first. The result is likely to be a little more confidence and the comfort of knowing that there are no easy marks that you missed on the exam.

• Examine the marking scheme of the test or exam and plan to divide your time evenly among the available marks of the exam; e.g., spend ten percent of your time on ten percent of the marks for the test. While you may not stay strictly with this limit, it is worthwhile to know how many minutes you should spend per percentage point in the exam. Following this guideline gives you a sense of progress and feedback about how you are doing. It is important to keep track of your time so that you have an opportunity to answer all questions: after all, it is better to give a 75% answer on all questions than perfect answers on 50% of the exam.

• Some students even find it helpful to set mini-breaks at specified points during the exam during which they close their eyes, relax their hands and do deep breathing exercises. Even thirty seconds can help bring down your symptoms of stress if you use one of the various relaxation strategies.

• At all times try to focus on the process of answering the question rather than on the end result.

50 Fun Things To Do During An Exam...(5)

16. Do the entire exam in another language. If you don't know one, make one up! For math/science exams, try using Roman numerals.

17. Bring things to throw at the instructor when s/he's not looking. Blame it on the person nearest to you.

18. As soon as the instructor hands you the exam, eat it.

19. Walk into the exam with an entourage. Claim you are going to be taping your next video during the exam. Try to get the instructor to let them stay, be persuasive. Tell the instructor to expect a percentage of the profits if they are allowed to stay.

20. Every five minutes, stand up, collect all your things, move to another seat, continue with the exam.

You should not attempt these things during an actual exam. The following is meant for entertainment purposes only...:)

50 Fun Things To Do During An Exam...(4)

16. Do the entire exam in another language. If you don’t know one, make one up! For math/science exams, try using Roman numerals.

17. Bring things to throw at the instructor when s/he’s not looking. Blame it on the person nearest to you.

18. As soon as the instructor hands you the exam, eat it.

19. Walk into the exam with an entourage. Claim you are going to be taping your next video during the exam. Try to get the instructor to let them stay, be persuasive. Tell the instructor to expect a percentage of the profits if they are allowed to stay.

20. Every five minutes, stand up, collect all your things, move to another seat, continue with the exam.

50 Fun Things To Do During An Exam...(3)

11. Run into the exam room looking about frantically. Breathe a sigh of relief. Go to the instructor, say “They’ve found me, I have to leave the country” and run off.

12. Fifteen minutes into the exam, stand up, rip up all the papers into very small pieces, throw them into the air and yell out “Merry Christmas. “If you’re really daring, ask for another copy of the exam. Say you lost the first one. Repeat this process every fifteen minutes.

13. Do the exam with crayons, paint, or fluorescent markers.

14. Come into the exam wearing slippers, a bathrobe, a towel on your head, and nothing else.

15. Come down with a BAD case of Turet’s Syndrome during the exam. Be as vulgar as possible.

to be continued...;)

Learning is a Journey

Learning takes time and patience. It is a process - a journey. A self-directed learning process is arguably the most powerful model for facilitating and inspiring individual, group, and organizational learning and development. We provide a learning process to empower people to guide themselves through their personal learning and development journey. This process is built upon 3 major principles:

1. The identification of gaps between one’s IDEAL self and REAL self. These gaps represent a primary motivator to learn and improve one’s self.

2. The creation and implementation of a challenging and realistic development action plan that follows the 70/20/10 formula (70% learning on-the-job, 20% from feedback and role models, and 10% from training).

3. Ongoing development dialogue between learners and supervisors - both have responsibility to ensure that the entire learning process happens.

Malaysian student at Overseas!

We will be there some day...!

Happy Becoming Ramadhan

50 Fun Things To Do During An Exam...(2)

6. Bring cheerleaders.

7. Walk in, get the exam, sit down. About five minutes into it, loudly say to the instructor, “I don’t understand any of this. I’ve been to every lecture all semester long! What’s the deal? And who are you? Where’s the regular guy?”

8. Bring a Game Boy. Play with the volume at max level.

9. On the answer sheet (book, whatever) find a new, interesting way to refuse to answer every question. For example: I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that it conflicts with my religious beliefs. Be creative.

10. Bring pets.

To be continued....:}

50 Fun Things To Do During An Exam...

1. Bring a pillow. Fall asleep (or pretend to) until the last 15 minutes. Wake up, say “oh geez, better get cracking” and do some gibberish work. Turn it in a few minutes early.

2. Get a copy of the exam, run out screaming “Andre, Andre, I’ve got the secret documents!!”

3. If it is a math/science exam, answer in essay form. If it is long answer/essay form, answer with numbers and symbols. Be creative. Use the integral symbol.

4. Make paper airplanes out of the exam. Aim them at the instructor’s left nostril.

5. Talk the entire way through the exam. Read questions aloud, debate your answers with yourself out loud. If asked to stop, yell out, “I’m so sure you can hear me thinking. ” Then start talking about what a jerk the instructor is.

to be continued......;)