This student essay shares some key strategies that she has discovered which can help students prepare for tests in massage school, or exams like the MBLEx. These test prep and test-taking strategies and techniques include: study tips, envision meditation, pre-reading the test, following your intuition, doing what you can and mark what you cannot, proofreading the completed test, and finally, congratulating your success.
Making study sessions fun and effective
Studying the test material in multiple ways over multiple sessions for a span of time, like a few months, conditions the brain to facilitate information recall when cued. Study in a fun manner using all the different areas of the brain. This is called multimodal learning because it uses multiple modes of learning. For example, illustrations, written notes, colors, music, etc. Ask yourself how can I make studying more stimulating and fun with visual, auditory and kinesthetic (physical) techniques? Visually looking over the material while highlighting allows the brain to remember the important stuff. If you are artsy try to incorporate your favorite colors, brightly colored flashcards or illustrations.
Physically making flashcards helps the part of the brain used to store and recall information. Orally practicing with the flashcards helps the brain to retain the information and will help isolate the areas needing more focus. Other examples of fun study strategies are drawing pictures, making up songs and phrases for things like acronyms, creating your own practice quiz and testing someone else, then having them test you. Studying in multiple ways over a length of time stores information in more areas of the brain.
Meditation and visualization for test-taking success
In the days and weeks prior to taking the test, try to visualize yours testing experience. Spend some time mediating on the full details of what your test-taking experience will be like from start to finish. Notice every detail you possibly can, from your power socks to the look of the room, the people, and even your feelings. Also visualize yourself using using test-taking strategies such as the process of elimination on multiple choices, using the test to find answers you may not know, proof reading and then finally, submitting the answers, getting up, walking out of the room quietly, celebrating your success in passing the test and getting your passing results back. Pre-visualization helps reprogram test anxiety into excitement.
Start meditating in a quiet area with your eyes closed and express out loud to yourself: “I only needed to pass this test! A score of 100% is fantastic but passing is essential and, that gives me room for errors.” After that I ask myself, “What is the most realistic worst case scenario? I don’t pass and then I work more on studying and try the test again. If I don’t pass it’s not the end of the world right? RIGHT!” Once you agree with yourself, just focus on your breathing.
Tips for taking tests in massage school
Once the testing process starts, read the test in its entirety. *You will not be able to do this on the MBLEx because you will only be able t see one question at a time, and you cannot go back to see previous questions. But you can do this on your exams in massage school. Go with your intuition when you think you know the answer go with it. Select what you can confirm and mark what you cannot with something like a star or circle over the number. If your massage school uses computerized testing, write the number of the difficult questions down to return to later. When you get to questions that don’t make sense, simplify it by braking down the sentence parts in section, and define/simplify the words. Use the process of elimination to narrow down and isolate the answer. If needed look back over the test and remind yourself that you only need to pass, that you did great by completing as much as you already completed and remind yourself that you know this stuff.
Proofread the test, after a daunting test the last thing most people want to do is reread 100+ questions, even if a future career is at hand. If needed take a minute brake to congratulate yourself. Stretching a bit is a smart way to hide a good old pat/rub on the back with a pretend scream to the heavens hurray I did it. Then reread questions and selected answers to make sure everything is accurate before submitting the final draft. This inclusion will prevent errors like missed questions, insure every answer is marked correctly, and provided the opportunity to catch mismatched answers.
Finally, turn in the answers, quietly walk out and then go celebrate. You worked long and hard for this successful moment and will be changing the rest of your life for the better as a result. Have a pre picked budget and reward to celebrate this moment because your worth it and only you could have done this level of success for yourself. Being prepared to take a test can be easy when you follow these simple yet effective practices; study multiple time in fun ways, meditate on the reality of your success happening in the actual testing environment, pre-reading the test to complete what you know, proofreading to systematically finding the answers you don’t know, giving yourself a pep talk or brake if needed and finally congratulating yourself on your success.
