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- On the morning of an examination, avoid excessive oral intake of products that act as diuretics for you. If you know that coffee or cigarettes, for example, increase urgency and frequency, it is best to limit their intake. Undue physiological discomforts can distract your focus from the examination at hand.
- Increase your oral intake of foods high in glucose and protein. These foods reportedly have been helpful to some examinees for keeping up their blood-sugar level. This may enhance your concentration and problem-solving ability at the times when you most need to function at a high level. On the other hand, avoid carbohydrates such as doughnuts, which slow down thinking.
- Before examination days, avoid eating exotic or highly seasoned foods to which your system may not be accustomed. Avoid possible gastrointestinal distress when you least need it!
- Use hard candy or something similar prior to entering the examination room, to help relieve the discomfort of a dry mouth related to a state of anxiety.
- Wear comfortable clothes that you have worn before. The day of an examination is not a good time to wear new footwear or clothes that may prove to be constricting, binding, or uncomfortable, especially at the waistline and shoulder seams.
- Anxiety states can bring about rapid increases and decreases in body temperature. Wear clothing that can be shed or added on. For example, you might bring a sweater that can be put on when you feel chilled or removed when your body temperature fluctuates again.
- Women need to be prepared for late, irregular, or unanticipated early onset of menses on examination day, a time of stress.
- Examination jitters can elicit anxiety-like reactions, both physiological and emotional. Because anxiety tends to be contagious, try to limit your contacts with those who are also experiencing examination-related anxiety or who elicit those feelings in you.
- The night before an examination is a good time to engage in a pleasurable activity as a means of anxiety reduction. You need stamina and endurance for sitting, thinking, and reacting. Give yourself a chance for restful, not energy- or emotion-draining, activities in the days before an examination.
- Try a relaxation process if anxiety reaches an uncomfortable level that cannot be channeled into the service of learning (see How To Reduce Anxiety, Progressive Relaxation).
- When you arrive home after an examination, jot down content areas that were unfamiliar to you. This may serve as a key focus for review.