What to do the night before an exam: 3 tips from Sal Khan

Here are my three tips to reducing stress the night before a test.

Tip one, stay physically healthy. There's a tendency that the night before you wanna cram; you wanna stay up late. You're stressed, you're anxious. That's the exact wrong thing to do. The night before, you have to get good rest. You have to relax, maybe meditate, watch a fun show, laugh a little bit, hang out with your family, and eat a healthy light meal. You don't wanna have stomach issues as you go into the test.

Tip two, organize your logistics. It's really important that as you go into the test, you have to worry about as little as possible. So the best way to do that is to organize everything ahead of time. Know where you're going. If you have to print out something, print it out ahead of time. Get your pencils in shape and sharpened. Even your clothes ready for the morning of, so that you just have to have a nice night of sleep, wake up, do some simple tasks, and then go to the test. The less you have to worry about that morning, the better.

Tip three, stay positive and confident. Perhaps the most important thing is, as you go to the test itself, keep a relaxed and positive attitude. If you're stressed, if you're anxious, that's going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. So take a deep breath, breathe out slowly, and say, "I got this."