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Test Taking & Managing Anxiety
| Posted on April 6, 2011 at 1:08 AM |
comments (61)
|
Test Taking
and Managing Anxiety A certain level of anxiety is helpful as it inspires one to take action
and study. However, too much anxiety can lead to avoidance behavior as one may procrastinate,
or it may cause one too freeze during test time. This can lead to going “blank”
during the test—all of a sudden your forget everything, perhaps you lose your
ability to focus, your heart starts beating faster, and you become more panicked
and flustered. You may find that you run out of time or are unable to complete
problems you have already studied. So, how can you cope with test anxiety? 1. Adequate preparation.
~~>Study a little bit every day. Sometimes getting started is the
hardest part, so commit to 15 minutes
a day. You may find that once you get started, you will go over the 15
minutes. ~~>Try
to see the bigger picture.
Often, titles and highlighted words can key you into the big picture. Make connections
to previous readings or notes. ~~> Create 5-7 key words that
represent the material you learned and be able to verbally elaborate on each word/concept.
2. Be kind to yourself.
~~> Practice deep
breathing. Individuals tend to breathe shallowly or even hold their
breath when feeling anxious. Sometimes they are not even aware of it.
Shallow breathing limits your oxygen intake and adds more stress to your
body, creating a vicious cycle. Breathing exercises can break this cycle. Set
15 minutes to practice breathing. You may be surprised how energizing or
relaxing this could be. If you dismiss this suggestion, just notice and get
curious about why. Exercise 1 ~~> 1. Sit up straight and allow your feet
to touch the ground. 2. Place one hand on your diaphragm and the other on your
chest. 3. Take in a deep breathe in through your nose and exhale slowly
though your mouth. 4. Inhale and exhale on a count of 5 and overtime try to work your way up to a count of 8. 5. Your hand should move out as your inhale
and the hand on your chest should stay relatively still. 6. If you lose your
concentration, just come back to your breath. 7. Do this for 15 minutes. 8. Notice your experience. Notice if this helps you feel more relaxed or nervous. If you become more anxious, notice where your mind went. Notice why an exercise that was meant to relax was anxiety provoking. Did you have judgements? Was it too boring? Waste of time? Just notice and keep practicing. Try this
in the now or tomorrow morning! Exercise 2 ~~> 1. Cover your right
nostril with your thumb and inhale through the left. 2. With your index finger cover your left
nostril and exhale through your right. 3. Then switch sides. 4.Practice this for at
least 5 minutes. Try this now!
* Stop, breathe,
smile, and go slowly! Yasi
Shamtoub, M.A. |
Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learners
| Posted on January 19, 2011 at 3:36 AM |
comments (198)
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Individuals differ in their learning styles. Below you will
find descriptions of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. However,
remember that they are just categories and things are not always so cut and
dry. Individuals can have a predominant learning style and yet display
characteristics of the other learning styles. Your learning style may be the single most important key to improving your grades. Students learn in many ways, like seeing, hearing, and experiencing
things first hand. But for most students, one of these methods stands
out. Why is this important? Research has shown that students can perform
better on tests if they change study habits to fit their own personal
learning styles. For example, visual-learning students will sometimes struggle during essay exams, because they can't recall test material that was "heard" in a lecture. However, if the visual learner uses a visual aid when studying, like
a colorful outline of test materials, he or she may retain more
information. For this type of learner, visual tools improve the ability
to recall information more completely. A simple explanation of learning styles is this: Some students
remember best materials they've seen, some remember things they've
heard, while others remember things they've experienced. Visual Learner Characteristics Visual learners are those who learn through seeing things. Look over
the characteristics below to see if they sound familiar. A visual
learner:
Learning Suggestions for Visual Learners
Best Test Type for Visual Learners: Diagramming, reading maps, essays (if you've studied using an outline), showing a process Worst test type: Listen and respond tests Auditory Learner Characteristics Auditory learners are
those who learn best through hearing things. Look over these traits to
see if they sound familiar to you. You may be an auditory learner if
you are someone who:
Auditory Learners Can Benefit from:
Worst test type: Reading passages and writing answers about them in a timed test. Best test type: Auditory Learners are good at writing responses to lectures they've heard. They're also good at oral exams. Kinesthetic Learner Characteristics Kinesthetic learners
are those who learn through experiencing/doing things. Look over these
traits to see if they sound familiar to you. You may be a kinesthetic
learner if you are someone who:
Kinesthetic Learners Can Benefit from:
Worst Test Type: Long tests, essays. Best Test Type: Short definitions, fill-ins, multiple choice. |
5 Healthy Ways to Improve Learning...
| Posted on December 1, 2010 at 4:11 AM |
comments (136)
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5 Healthy Ways to Improve Learning, Memory, and Concentration
 Do not underestimate the power of regular exercise. It helps increase oxygen to your brain and releases endorphins, which help reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance memory. Some studies have also shown that exercise may cause neurogenesis, which is the creation of new neurons. 2. Reduce Stress:  Long term stress produces a hormone called cortisol which can have damaging effects on the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory.  3. Sleep deficiency:  The sleep cycle allows your brain to rest and repair. Too little sleep causes us to be drowsy and have difficulty concentrating. Studies have also linked REM sleep with learning and memory. Researchers have found that REM sleep deprivation leads to poor performance on recall tests and logical tasks. Findings also demonstrate that memory loss occurs when sleep is deprived on the same night or two nights after the material has been learned. Studies with animals have shown that rats exposed to learning tasks, spend more time in REM and also fall into REM sleep faster if they have more trials of the learning activities.  4. Water: Drink 8 cups of water a day. Water helps to cleanse your system by washing out toxins and to also increase metabolism. It helps to increase energy and make your body work properly. The human body is made of 58-78% water depending on body size. Dehydration:
 5. Nutrition:  Studies have found that free radicals may be associated with poor brain function. Vitamins B, B6 , B12, and folic acid can protect neurons by breaking down homocysteine, an amino acid, that is toxic to nerve cells. These nutrients also help to produce red blood cells which help carry oxygen. Spinach and other dark leafy greens, broccoli, asparagus, strawberries, melons, black beans and other legumes, citrus fruits, and soybeans are a good source for these nutrients. Antioxidants such as Vitamins C and E as well as beta carotene fight free radicals which may damage cells. Antioxidants also help improve the blood flow to the brain and body. Foods that contain these antioxidants include: blueberries and other kinds of berries, sweet potatoes, red tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, green tea, nuts and seeds, citrus fruit and liver. Omega 3 fatty acids are associated with cognitive function. They are considered "healthy fats" and can be found in foods such as: salmon, herring, tuna, halibut, mackerel, walnuts, walnut oil, flaxseed and flaxseed oil. Yasi Shamtoub, M.A. |
How to Improve Memory
| Posted on November 27, 2010 at 4:44 PM |
comments (187)
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How to Improve Memory  Memory formation can be divided into three phases: acquisition, storage, and retrieval. Once something is encoded into memory, the memory remains stored. The problem is not that the memory is gone, but that the connection or retrieval path cannot be accessed. Think of memory as a city. The more routes and modes of transportation you have to this city, the easier it is to access this place. Once you have traveled this route, you are less likely to get lost on subsequent trips and no longer need to rely on directions and a map, especially regarding trips you have made recently and frequently. The city doesn't disappear! So the question becomes how can one learn information in a way that strengthens retrieval paths both in the short and long run.
E.g. Let’s say that I am at a party and someone introduces herself to me. Her name is Jasmine. I need to be attentive to learn this new information. If I am not attentive the information perhaps will not encode. Perhaps I am paying enough attention for it to encode but do not manipulate the information in any way. Thus, I cannot access her name from memory but when she restates her name, I experience an “oh yah” moment. If I repeat her name in my head a few times, I will be more likely to remember her name, especially if I space the repetitions. What I mean by spacing is the amount of time that passes before I repeat her name again. If I retrieve/generate her name after 10 minutes, I had to work harder to retrieve that information than if I allow 2 minutes to pass. Perhaps when I first meet her, I try to connect the information with other information I already know. For instance, I know Jasmine means flower and this person also happens to look like Princess Jasmine from the Disney cartoon Aladdin. Now I have connected this information to two other networks, which will also make the retrieval path stronger. E.g. I am studying for a history exam. I am reading the chapter. When I am reading the information, I need to pay attention to it in order to encode it. After each paragraph, I might verbally summarize what I read. If I summarize from memory, I am generating the information, as well as repeating and organizing it. I may connect the information to a previous section or chapter thus increasing connections to other networks and forming multiple retrieval paths. After I read the whole chapter, I might try to generate the information I read from memory. I may do this an hour later, five hours later, and two days later. Thus, I have not only had multiple repetitions, but I have also had experience generating the information. However, if it is multiple choice test I may only need to recognize and be familiar with the information and multiple generations may not be useful or efficient. For an essay test, I would need to generate the information and thus multiple generations over time may be more useful. Yasi Shamtoub, M.A. |