Finals Week is upon us–for those us in college, teaching at the university and/or living with someone in one of those situations. In my case, it is all of the above. My oldest child is a high schooler living at home who is taking a full course load at the local community college and I am a professor facilitating oral exams on Saturday.
Some experience anxiety when it comes to taking tests. Here are my top 3 tools.
- PACE from the Brain Gym® program wins the top prize! On a scale of 0-10, what is your anxiety/worry level at this moment? Watch the video and follow along. Notice whether your anxiety/worry decreased at all. Also notice whether your physical aches/pains/tensions or maybe your self-talk changed. **The Brain Gym® Teacher Edition by Paul and Gail Dennison explains the PACE acronym and answers “So what? Why do it?” I have some in stock in Minnesota-contact me today.
- Emotional Stress Release (ESR) points, which the Brain
Gym program calls Positive Points, is the one I do the most frequently for myself. Here I am creatively and playfully combining Positive Points with Hook-ups. I also use this with others who are experiencing stress and/or trauma. - Belly Breathing Breathing is one of the first things to go when we are nervous. In the Edu-K In Depth work, we relate breathing to power. How powerful do you feel when you think of “finals”? Notice any tension in your jaw, skull, and face. After breathing deeply for a couple of minutes, check back in to see how the tension and/or your feeling of power has shifted.
Test taking can provoke all sorts of feelings. Tests can show us all we know and they can point out all there is still to learn. Life is really one big test. May these simple strategies support you in the process as you demonstrate your knowledge.
(c) 2017, Cindy Goldade, In-Motion Intelligence
Brain Gym® is a registered trademark of the Educational Kinesiology foundation, Santa Barbara, CA www.braingym.org
