yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

How to reduce test prep anxiety: 3 tips from Sal Khan


4m read
·Nov 10, 2024

Here are my tips for reducing stress around taking important tests.

Tip one: Build a habit of practice. Building a habit of practice is super valuable. I know I'm guilty of myself sometimes; I get so caught up with something or I'm stressed about something that I almost freeze. But it really should be the other way around. I try to remind myself that, "Sal, if you put time in on a regular basis, if I use things like official SAT practice to take practice tests, understand my strengths and weaknesses, work on where my weaknesses are, and I do it on a regular basis, that's my best chance of actually improving."

We have studies that show there's a strong correlation between students who are able to put in even six hours and growing 50 percent more than expected. So I really encourage you: don't get too obsessed with the outcome, but think about what can I do on a regular basis? Not all at once, not binge practicing, but what can I do on a regular basis, day in, day out? You'll be really impressed how much the gains will accumulate.

Tip 2: Share your feelings. One of the things that has taken me many years to discover the wisdom of, and I hope to share it with you, is whatever is going on in your life that you think is unique to you, it's not. It's probably happening in the minds of everyone else around you, even those people who look perfect on social media, and always seem to have their act together and their hair perfectly combed, and great grades. They're feeling the same things, the same stresses, the same insecurities in their mind.

They might even be feeling far more than what you are. So do yourself a favor and do them a favor by being vulnerable and talking about it, and talking about how you can actually support each other. I got to tell you, even when I was a student like you, and even today as I try to navigate my own life, by being able to have a support network, people who I can commiserate with, it really helps lower the stress. That's just going to make you a healthier person, but also the more relaxed you are entering into these tests, the better you're going to perform.

Tip three: Keep a bigger perspective. One thing that some of us adults often forget is how sometimes stressful the stage of life you're in is. You know, us adults, we say, "Oh, I gotta pay bills; I gotta do this; I gotta pay the mortgage." But I can guess what's going on in your mind because I went through it myself. You're saying, "Hey, I've gotta do really good on this test because if I do good on this test, then I might be able to have that opportunity. If I do well with that opportunity, I'll get that opportunity, and then my life will be perfect."

But if I don't do well, well then that opportunity might not happen, and then that opportunity might not happen. And then what will I be? Who will I be? What I'd like to tell you, and I'm literally not making this up, I've gotten rejected, and I failed at far more things than you can imagine. Even though in the moment I sometimes thought all was lost, a week later, six months later, a year later, I realized that actually, it wasn't that big of a deal.

In some ways, it was a blessing because maybe that wasn't the thing for me. So when you go into test prep mode, yes, of course, you want to do as well as you can, but that score isn't you; it doesn't define you. You are so much more than that one score. You are so much more than what school you get into. And I'll tell you a secret, and this is, you know, after being out in the real world for over 20 years.

I've actually haven't seen a big correlation between where someone happened to go to school and how successful they might be. I even did "successful" in air quotes because what society calls successful, money, fame, all of that, I got to tell you, also does not correlate with real happiness. Real happiness is knowing who you are, doing what you can, but not getting obsessed with outcomes, not coveting things, not coveting "I must do this, I must do that."

Because no matter how much money you make, or how famous or accomplished you get, if you have that mindset, you'll never be happy. But if you say, "Look, I'm going to be my best self; I'm going to do right by myself and right by the world," then things will play out as they see fit. You'll always be content, and you'll actually be far happier than most people on this planet.

So those are my tips for reducing stress as you approach these types of tests, and a little bit of general life advice too. I hope you take it to heart; take it with a grain of salt too, but I believe that it might be really valuable.

More Articles

View All
How technology has impacted the private jet business 👀
Technology for us is a big piece of our presentation model. We have our huge video wall with an app, so we actually can take people through this whole process by educating people on how you select the airplane that best meets your needs, your requirements…
Who Inspired Wakanda’s Women Warriors? | Podcast | Overheard at National Geographic
Foreignly, I heard the term Dahomey Amazons throughout the years but never really thought much more about them other than they were this sort of mythical group of women who did amazing things. You might have heard of the Marvel superhero Black Panther. He…
Andding decimals with hundredths
Let’s get some practice adding numbers that involve hundreds. So, pause this video and see if you can add these two numbers. See what you get. Alright, now let’s work through this together. Now, there’s many different ways to add decimals, and you’ll lea…
The Evolution of Shelter | Origins: The Journey of Humankind
The daunting journey to the modern world had its humble beginnings long ago. Mammoth bone huts to mega cities, the evolution of shelter mirrors the evolution of humanity. It all began around the fire as we shed our nomadic past and crafted our first homes…
Homeroom with Sal & John Dickerson - Tuesday, October 27
Hi everyone, Sal Khan here. Welcome to the Homeroom live stream. We have a very exciting guest today. We’re gonna have John Dickerson, who works for 60 Minutes, a CBS contributing analyst, contributes to The Atlantic, and also has written “The Hardest Job…
First Duck of Spring (Deleted Scene) | Life Below Zero
[Music] What a beautiful evening it is out here by this lake. Plucking my first duck of the spring, it’s a great time of the year. Lakes are starting to break up, ducks are starting to come back, and I’ve been grinning coming up the creek. I had a great …