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

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.