Test Prep Books/Effective Study Skills for Test Taking Anxiety

You go tutors!

Every day I receive Google alerts about stories and statistics regarding test anxiety, test scores and test preparation. I like to keep current with what’s going on in the field.

Here’s one that came across my desk today:  It’s from “Janice R.” who runs a tutoring service in Palm Coast, Florida. Janice offers a good roadmap for students: familiarize yourself with the test, do some solid preparation and get ready for test day.

How often we overlook the essentials!

I applaud Janice R for getting the word out and offering what she can to students who may not be getting the guidance they need and deserve. Keep up the good work!

Janice R is a tutor at WyzAnt.com. Check out their website. While I am not personally familiar their services and therefore can’t yet recommend them, I definitely am intrigued to find out more, and suggest you look them over too.

Feeding the fire within

Every spiritual tradition teaches stopping.  It’s a way to break habits, a way to let space into your otherwise overcrowded life, a way to restore balance.

So this is my break.

I am at a remarkable retreat called vaidyagrama, a healing village, in the south of India. Until January 10, I will be away from computers and emails and telephones.

During times of retreat we can reflect on what has happened and what is to come.  But mostly, we can consider the great gifts we have, right now. 2011 was an extraordinary year. 2012 holds many promises.

I wish you all a happy, healthy New Year. I hope it is off to a good start in the direction that will most bring balance and fulfillment into your life.

Take a moment to breathe

New Year’s greetings to everyone, far and wide!  May it be a year of peace, health and prosperity for all.

Since the beginning of a new year is usually filed with resolutions– which are really thinly disguised attempts to change habits — I’m going to begin the year with a series of posts on habits.

Habits determine the quality of our lives. And they are fundamental if you want to reduce your stress around taking tests.

Life is made up of habits. Think about it. As you are reading this you are breathing (whether you are aware of your breath or not).  As Read the rest of this entry »

A young girl was brought to me because she was failing in math. Her parents were concerned that she wouldn’t get admitted to the competitive middle school to which she was applying. And there was also another potential problem: the interview. The girl, I’ll call her Amy, tended to shut down with strangers.

Sure enough, she wouldn’t talk to me.

OK, I thought, now what? I saw Amy eyeing a set of colored markers Read the rest of this entry »

After the days have gotten shorter and the nights longer we move through the winter solstice. The days begin to lengthen. More and more light comes in, slowly, little by little.

Christmas and Hanukah celebrate light:  Jesus, the light of the world, and the Hanukah, the eternal light in the holy temple.

What does this light mean to us?  It is the light of our spirit, the sustaining force that gives us each the illumination and power to clear Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Delia Lloyd. Blogger and Journalist

I was introduced to an interesting blog today and the post was apt for this site  “Do You Every Really Leave High School?” and it’s from the blog RealDelia: Finding Yourself in Adulthood,” written by  an American-born journalist in London, Delia Lloyd.  The post focuses on the anxiety dreams many of us continue to have about tests.   In my 35 years as I performance psychologist I’ve heard so many dreams about test anxiety that I’ve lost count. When I was a young child–just around the time I started school — I started having a full-blown nightmare about taking tests. The dream all took place on an enormous sheet of lined paper, the older kind with the red margin running up and down the left side. The teacher– something of a Alice in Wonderland Red Queen type — was standing at the top line, looking very imperious and scary. I had to go up to the top line on the page  and answer a question. My Jungian analyst friends would probably have a field day with this day, but Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Our amazing brain: constantly seeking connection

Having just attended the Learning & the Brain conference in Chicago, I am struck with two competing thoughts I’d like to share:  how much science there is about the brain, and what a challenge it is for teachers to integrate the findings into their daily practice. I attended fascinating lectures about many new scientific studies on the brain and motivation, gender similarities and differences, stress, etc., but at the same time I was left wondering, “How do I implement these discoveries in my work as a teacher and a coach?”  I would like to suggest we need more collaboration between researchers and practitioners– between the scientists and the teachers. One of the

Read the rest of this entry »