September 24th, 2011
Follow your coach's direction
I’m in NY for a conference organized by the NY Times on “Schools for Tomorrow.” I met yesterday with Alexandra Zabriskie, a top-notch NY tutor for the SAT and ACT (and school subjects too). Alex talked about coaching her students to take practice tests under the practice conditions, in other words, when it’s possible, to take at least one practice test Read the rest of this entry »
September 16th, 2011
You need some energy to perform well
Today’s question is: How do I get rid of my anxiety before an exam?
Answer: You don’t get “rid” of anxiety. A little bit of anxiety has been shown (in over a hundred years of research) to be a good thing. Remember the “Yerkes-Dodson curve” (see illustration). Yerkes and Dodson were two psychologists who showed, at the beginning of the 20th century, that there’s a direct relationship between stress and performance. Too much or too little stress and performance suffers. You Read the rest of this entry »
June 23rd, 2011
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 »
February 22nd, 2010
Calm, confident, focused
On November 4, 2008, 66 million people elected Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States.
How did he, a young man with a brief resume, make this dream come true?
December 16th, 2009
PTO Emery is a bright light in East Bay
On Monday night I had the honor of being the featured speaker at the Emeryville Unified School district’s parent teacher’s association meeting. After a delicious holiday dinner we all moved into the library of Emery Secondary School and PTO President Brynnda Collins introduced me. The school district generously provided each parent at the meeting with a copy of my book. I gave a talk on the book and particularly chapter 5, “How to Calm Down.” I think the material in this chapter is particularly helpful for parents when their kids are stressed out about tests.
November 11th, 2009
Talking about his family, President Obama said, “And part of our job as parents — Michelle and my job — is not just to tell our kids what to do, but to start instilling in them a sense that they want to do it for themselves.”
I remember a high school student brought in by her parents. I asked her, “Do you know why you are here?” She immediately replied, “Yes. My parents want me to get higher SAT score. And I don’t want to work for it.”
Then the three of them leaned in. All eyes were on me…
November 7th, 2009
While I was in the midst of editing my book, a bright high school senior named Jamal came to see me. Anxiously, he asked me to help him raise his SAT scores by 200.
"Tests make me tense!"
As Jamal spoke, his right leg bounced up and down rapidly, his shoulders tensed and rose almost to his ears, and his speech accelerated like a car with a jammed gas pedal. Several times while he spoke, he held his breath. “Just talking about the test makes me nervous,” he said anxiously. “I feel like I’m flipping out right now. This is what happened to me on the SAT.”
Is he right? Wrong.
November 2nd, 2009
Speaking tomorrow on test taking and presentation skills. UCSF Mission Bay campus. Here's the description and the link. Please attend! PERFORMANCE: PUMP UP SUCCESS SKILLS II Tuesday, November 3, 4-5pm, N114 Genentech Hall MB First you prepare. Then you perform. Learning invaluable tools to access, process, and retrieve the right information in the right situation is key to success. You can perform according to your potential: capable, in charge, and successful. Dr. Bernstein's techniques add the final touch to intense preparation. "I am confident I will continue to use these techniques throughout my career," 3rd yr. grad student UCLA. Genentech Hall is on the map http://www.ucsf.edu/maps/ I'll have to check with Pam about parking and what is best that time of day. I think the BART and T line would be way too cumbersome.
October 29th, 2009
Come to my noontime talk at the University of California San Francisco and you will learn what you need to improve your test performance.
Details: Thursday, Oct 29, room HSW-301. If you can’t be there, shoot me an email with your test prep question and I’ll reply.
One of the things I will clarify is the Yerkes Dodson curve (click on image at left for larger view and explanation).
It’s all about how to perform optimally by keeping your stress at just the right level.
Too much stress and your performance starts to slide.
The key better test prep and higher test scores is awareness – that your stress is building — and tools to reduce stress on the spot.
That’s what the talk is about. See you there.
