The Exam Ritual I Used in College to Ace Test

What they don’t tell you about college is how absolutely terrifying the first exam is. In fact, right before going into my first exam in college, I had a HUUUGGEEE anxiety attack. When I say bad, I mean like paralyzing, there may have been some tears shed. So, what did I do to prevent this for the next exam alllll the way until graduation five years later? I made myself an exam ritual. I can not 100% guarantee this will work for you, but if this gets your brain flowing for creating your own, then I’d say we are both winning.

A WEEK BEFORE

A week before an exam, I’d begin reviewing my material by myself. This meant reviewing my notes, rewatching lectures, and reading textbooks. This also means taking more notes, and making myself some notecards.

THE WEEKEND BEFORE

The weekend before is when I would gather the troops. I along with my classmates would set up a study group that lasted at a minimum of four hours. This was a chance for us to trade notes, and have each other clarify any information that the other could be confused on. This also was a time for us to gather any topics we may need to ask the professor about before the exam.

THE NIGHT BEFORE

The night before was strictly for reviewing information that I knew and had memorized. This was just to hammer it home one more time.

THE MORNING OF

This was a straight-up cram session of information I was confused about. This was just making sure that my short term memory could carry the information my mind couldn’t retain.

I’d also eat a bomb breakfast and drink some good coffee. This helped eliminate the distraction of being tired and hungry.

RIGHT BEFORE

Right before an exam, I’m eating chocolate. This was something I picked up on my second exam. Chocolate gave me some serotonin, calmed my nerves, and get me a bit of extra sugar energy. If I was going into an exam with friends, best believe we were hyping each other up.

On top of the chocolate, I would take a few deep breaths, reinsure myself that I knew the knowledge, and get my stationery set.

DURING THE EXAM

I am panicking. JK. I was just doing my best to get it done, focusing on the exam not listening to the huffs and puffs from the back.

AFTER THE EXAM

I didn’t ask questions, compare answers, or review my notes to prematurely grade myself. This was to prevent me (or anyone else) from being upset about a potentially wrong answer. This was also because I was in architecture school and had no time for being sad.

GETTING EXAM RESULTS

I didn’t like sharing grades with my classmates. If I did, it was mainly with just my friends. I’d take note of what I really fucked up on because best belive it was gonna pop up on the final. If the results were really bad, then I’d treat myself to a good lunch/dinner to celebrate trying.

And that is it y’all, that was my exam ritual from college. It was pretty effective. I only failed like 7ish exams from school, mostly structures exams because WTF was that?!? lol/ If you have any questions about setting up an exam ritual, feel free to reach out and comment below! If you like what you read, sign up for my newsletter so you are first to know when new education blogs are posted!

Until next time :)