Test Prep Books/Effective Study Skills for Test Taking Anxiety

Are you all tied up?

As I write this I am in south India at an Ayurvedic retreat.  Ayurveda is the oldest system of healing arts known to man. It dates back thousands of years to the writing of the Vedas, or ancient texts.

One of the pillars of this remarkably comprehensive and far-reaching system is to establish and maintain balance of body, mind and spirit. Since this corresponds so directly with the work I do as a stress psychologist I want to take a moment, at year’s end, review this foundational aspect of good health.  Let’s start out with  Read the rest of this entry »

Richard Wyne and Nora

At the Apple store in Seattle I got into an interesting conversation with Richard Wyne, from Whistler, B.C., Canada. Richard is the head of a company called Polar Solutions, which is in the business of disaster management and emergency preparedness.  They save people’s lives. Talk about stress and performance!. Locating and saving a person trapped in a building, or under an avalanche of snow requires the epitome of being calm, confident and focused.  I met Richard with his trusted partner, Nora, a Senior Avalanche Rescue Dog (German Shepard, Border Collie X). I would love to see them in action.  If your job requires you to keep stress at an optimal level let us know what it is.  I’d love to see Richard and Nora in action (check out their website), and the necessity for them to remain calm,confident and focused. Richard was interested in The Workbook for Test Success, and I look forward to sharing ideas an experiences with him, and with you. Tell us about your stress-related work.

The right answer? Strengthen yourself.

The Silicon Valley Mercury News today published an article today about the SAT and ACT. Author Purvy Mody starts off by saying “The words SAT and ACT can conjure anxiety for even the most academically confident student. Standardized testing has become so talked about and so prepared for that I have heard of fifth-graders enrolling in SAT prep classes — something I am highly against.”

5th graders prepping for the SAT?  AYK?  (are you kidding?)

Mody ends the article with this: “Take a class if you need the structure, or get the official books and practice on your own. Whatever method you use, the most important thing is Read the rest of this entry »

I recently had a Skype session with a client in Asia. He is preparing for the GMAT as he wants to go to business school in the US.  A very bright guy who suffers terribly from performance anxiety.  We made great progress in the Skype session– I was able to observe and point out to him the various things he was thinking and doing that were adding to his stress. now this is a great example of why some people might need personal coaching besides reading the workbook. okay, back to this GMAT guy.  I taught him the tools he needs for reducing the stress so he could improve his performance. They are all based on the nine core tools in the book. All I do is tweak them, fine tune them for his specific needs. The difference, during the session, itself, was noticeable.  Great!  But wait. Now comes the next important part. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve noticed, the last post here was in December!  Where have I been all this time?  Read on…

On January 8 I was crossing the street in NYC and was hit, head-on, by a taxicab who was speeding through at light at 35 mph. Slam! 3,000 pounds of rock-hard steel rammed into the right side of my body. I flipped up onto the hood, smashed the front window and went flying through the air, landing on my back in the middle of Broadway.  Rushed Read the rest of this entry »

Prepare yourself!

A blog post about preparing for the the US Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE)  came through today. I’d like to analyze it a bit and add my two cents (quoting the post in italics)

The most straightforward strategy to do well at taking an exam is undoubtedly by just taking practice exams. It really is as approximate as you will get to taking the real examination. Whenever you only possess time to finish just one thing to get ready for… Read the rest of this entry »

Worrying? Again?

Do you find yourself worrying about an upcoming test? Or, when you are in the middle of an exam answering questions, are you worrying then?

The first thing to know is that it’s normal. Just about everyone worries from time to time.

Second, know this: worrying never solves anything. Anything.  Worrying just breeds more worrying.  Haven’t you noticed that when you continue to worry

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At a book discussion and signing at Borders in Pleasanton, CA, a seasoned teacher perused the book and said, “This book is the missing link. It’s the Rosetta Stone.”  This is a big complement coming from a person with years of experience working with under-served students, helping them to succeed on tests.

The teacher, Steve Shramko, works at the Eastside Adult Education Program in San Jose, and has, over the years, recognized the need for material– “a curriculum” — that addresses the test taker, not just the test content.  “This is exactly what we need,”  Steve said, referring to the book.

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Today I watched a TV clip of an interview with someone who wrote about reducing test anxiety. If I were a student about to take the SAT or GRE or GMAT or LSAT,  I would have found it woefully wanting. It’s not that the information was wrong (the specialist talked about “breathing”) but it was all so “tips” oriented.  What do I mean and what’s wrong with “tips”?

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The calm, confident and focused teacher

As the health care debate nears some resolution (at least for the time being), the legislative agenda is already setting its compass to point towards education. A lead article in the New York Times titled “Obama Calls for a Major Change in the Education Law,” the President and his Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan are calling for a re-visioning of No Child Left Behind.

(see referenced article link to ‘Major Change in Education Law’)

One of the key features of the new policy is the focus on teachers and how they teach.

Quoting the article: The administration’s proposals would also rework the law’s teacher-quality provisions by requiring states to develop evaluation procedures to distinguish effective instructors, partly based on whether their students are learning.

I read this to mean: teachers are going to be tested. Big time. I don’t mean…

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