7 Essential Tips for ANY Standardized Test

1. Study well Whether you’re applying to college, graduate school, law school, medical school, or even some jobs, standardized tests are often part of the process. They can be intimidating, long, arduous, and confusing, but with some practice, you’ll learn how to overcome any test-taking anxiety and stay focused. Here are a few tips and tricks for going into a test calm and prepared. 1. Study well This probably seems obvious, but the first step for going into a test without anxiety is feeling prepared. This post won’t cover study skills, but whenever you schedule yourself for a standardized test, make sure you also make yourself a study schedule — and stick to it. There’s nothing worse than going into a test knowing that you don’t know all the material. Familiarize yourself with the types of questions, any detailed vocabulary or skills, and methods for completing test tasks. Knowing what’s coming around each flip of the page will greatly reduce any anxiety you have about that test. 2. Know the format It’s important to know the content of the test but nearly as important is knowing how the test is sectioned and timed. Internalizing the rhythm of the test and knowing ahead of time how many minutes, even seconds, to budget for each type of question will greatly relieve your test-taking stress, and lead to a calmer experience. It will also allow you to prioritize questions. Knowing how long you should be taking on something will allow you to pass a question if it’s taking you too much time with a clear and calm mind. It happens! And being familiar with the test will make making those â€Å"triage† decisions easier and less fraught. The key to knowing the format is practicing the test. Run through several sample tests as if in a test-taking situation. Don’t look at answers or notes — make your practice as close to the real situation as possible. This will give you a feel for the timing of the sections and your comfort with the material. Having a few runs under your belt before the real test will greatly reduce your test-taking anxiety. 3. Keep Track of Your Time Since you’ve practiced the test, you know how much time you should be spending on each section and question. So, during the test, ask if you can keep a watch on your desk. That way, you can stay focused, keep your eyes down, but also keep track of your progress and pacing. Some students become panicked when they think they are running out of time or when they lose track of how much time has passed. This way, you’ll know exactly where you are and where you should be. 4. Adopt a Mantra A mantra is a short phrase that you repeat over and over to calm and focus your mind. It’s a practice imported from meditation, but widely applicable. It may sound hokey, but it can be incredibly helpful during stressful situations. It’s helpful if your mantra has a nice rhythm and soothing message — something like, â€Å"calm, cool, collected,† or â€Å"move quickly, move well,† or â€Å"focus the mind, quiet the body† — or come up with your own. Repeating this mantra at the outset of your test and in moments of stress and uncertainty will help bring you back to a baseline, where you can think more clearly. A little stress can be good to keep you focused, but too much scrambles your ability to recall information and make good decisions. Your mantra will help keep you in that sweet spot. 5. Be Physically Prepared It may not seem like it, but a test is a physical undertaking. Mental exertion is not unlike physical exertion. To be mentally fit, you need to be in good physical health on â€Å"game day,† aka, test day. Studying the night before may seem like a good idea, but not if it cuts into a good night of sleep. Keep up a good sleep and eating routine the week of the test so that you’re rested and healthy, body and mind. It will also cut down on the risk of getting ill the days leading up to the test. Being in good health will remove another stresser from the situation and allow you to keep the test material at the forefront of your mind. 6. Practice Visualization Visualization is something practiced by many athletes. It’s a method of anticipation and mental practice. In a moment of calm, you close your eyes and see yourself sitting down and taking out your pencils. You see yourself opening the test booklet and beginning the test. You see yourself finishing the test and leaving the testing room. Visualization helps calm your mind and put yourself in a stressful situation before it happens so that when it happens, you are ready for it. Try it! 7. Focus Your Eyes To Focus Your Mind Keeping a focused mind is sometimes as easy as keeping your eyes literally focused on the task at hand. Being in a room full of test-takers naturally invites comparison. Is she more prepared than I am? Why is he going so fast? Is everyone else ahead of me? This kind of self-doubt is a natural symptom of anxiety, but don’t invite it into your mind. Keep your eyes on your own desk and your own test. Don’t let your mind wander or dwell. Don’t procrastinate or daydream. Just do what you came to do! All of these tips are great for test-takers, but they can be applied to any stressful situation. The key is to learn what works for you, and how to best quiet and focus your mind, no matter the noise going on around it. Good luck!

Exploring Of History Of Education From Colonial Days To Today - 550 Words

Exploring Of History Of Education From Colonial Days To Today (Essay Sample) Content: History of Education from Colonial days to today Student’s name University Affiliation History of Education from Colonial days to today Undeniably, education is an integral part of the life of an individual. It enables people to acquire knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits through methods such as teaching, training, directed research, discussions, and storytelling (Cooper Ryan, 1988).In light of this task, the essay seeks to explore the history of education, how it has evolved from colonial days to today. In line with Dewey (1999), the history of education can be traced back from the time when the European immigrants moved to colonial America where they brought their cultural values, traditions, and philosophies about education. Further, the scholar argues that the current education structure in the United States is founded on the Western or European belief system. During this period, some tribes such as the Cherokee had developed written languages and a system of formal education so that knowledge can be passed from one generation to the other. It is also worth noting that religion played an integral part in the development of education. For example, the Puritans, a staunch fundamentalist Protestant believed that education was crucial since it helped people to read the Bible and receive salvation. The first compulsory education laws were approved in Massachusetts from 1642-1648. The laws mainly targeted the non-Puritans who did not provide their children with appropriate education. As a result, the Massachusetts Act of 1642 made education an obligation of the state (Dewey, 1999). On the flip side, the development of colonial days to today has had its fair share of challenges. For instance, in Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896, the U.S Supreme Court gave out a ruling which purported that the constitution was not violated if racially separate facilities were equal (NAACP, 2017).However, NAACP, a civil rights group commissioned a study in the 1930s whereby Nathan Margold established that the endorsement made by the supreme court did not provide the black with similar facilities as the whites. As a result, Margold claimed that ‘separate but equal principle’ had been violated thus the reason as to why a strings of lawsuits were filed. Later, Houston joined NAACP where he came up with an equalization strategy that advocated for fairness in the facilities provided to black and white students. Through this strategy, Houston was successful in several suitcases such as Murray v. Maryland which led to the disintegration of the University of Maryland’s Law School and State ex rel. Gaines v. Canada. Similarly, Thurgood Marshall, Houston’s successor also fought for the Equal Protection Clause where the states of Texas and Oklahoma were compelled to enroll black students in their professional and graduate schools. Through these decisions, more victories such as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka were achieved (NAACP, 2017). More importantly, various organizations and movements have been formed to ensure that education is accessible to every student irrespective of their cultural, ethnic or financial backgrounds. For instance, National Association for Bilingual Education is professional organization that advocates for equality in the education sector. In addition, the association supports excellence for both multilingual and bilingual students. According to the article, this organization has partners in 18 states with more than 5, 000 members who work towards investing education, the country’s future leaders, and the world’s well-being. They do so by creating programs, policies, research, pedagogy and enhancing professional development (National Associa...