2. Sleep Hard to do but worth it Eat Dont overeat, but you dont
want to be distractedby feeling hungry Avoid too much sugar. Sugar
rushes and drops can make things difficult. A moderate amount of
caffeine is good to keep you alert Do not stay up all night
cramming particularly not useful for tests like GED, SAT etc. 3.
Arrive early but not too early If you are able to, before the day
of the test, scout outthe location and the parking situation. Make
sure you have a couple of sharpened pencils (for the current test)
Wear comfortable clothes. Youll be sitting for a while. 4. I can do
this Im calm. Im confident. I am doing fine. Im prepared. I am
doing my best, and my best isgood Im good enough. Im smart enough,
and doggone it, people like me Make up one of your own 5. Take slow
deep breaths Tune in to the feeling of your feet on the floor
Gradually relax one body part at a time Use positive self talk 6.
Be familiar with the test format before you get there. Look over
the test Do the questions first that you are sure you know howto do
Make sure if you skip questions, skip them on your answer sheet
too! Read the questions carefully. 7. Read the questions carefully
(It bears repeating!) Keep track of your time, but dont go crazy
with this! Its good to know if you are about half way done at
thehalf way point. Its not good to look at your watch every 5
minutes! Do not panic if others finish early. Who cares what they
are doing?? 8. 2-5 minutes before the end of the test, find
eachquestion you have not answered yet and guess. Do not second
guess yourself. Most of the time your first answer is correct. Only
change an answer if you know for sure you answered it wrong. 9. Do
not panic. Math is only 20% of the test! Be familiar with the
formula page and use it whenever you need to. Be familiar with the
GED calculator and use it when you are allowed to. Use estimation.
Have a sense of how much the answer is. You can eliminate incorrect
choices this way. Do the ones you know first. Do not try to figure
out ones you have no idea about. Leave these until the end. Try
them if there is time or guess. 10. Do not panic! Take at least
5-10 minutes to plan. Planning is as important as writing if you
want a good score. You can do a brief mind map, outline, or just
jot stuff down You want to aim for 5 paragraphs with an
introduction, conclusion, and 3 body paragraphs Use your
experience. If you cant think of a real life experience to use,
make one up or use a friends. Dont go off track or go around in
circles repeating yourself Planning will prevent the above! 11.
Some people like to read the question before the passage. Get a
sense of what it being looked for. You may need to re-read or you
may not. Dont assume you need to. Try to imagine what is happening
particularly with fiction and poetry. Make a mind movie. Do not try
to remember every single detail. It is not a test of memorizing
things. Get familiar before the test with the types of questions
they ask. 12. Answer the question in your head and look for
theanswer that matches what you think. (Good for multiple choice
questions on the writing test) For reading, social studies, and
science, make sure you read all the options before you choose one.
There may be two that are pretty good, and one is the best. If two
options are opposite from each other, chances are one is the best
one. Be careful of answers that state things in an absolute way
(using words like never and always)
