Hello everyone! With midterms coming up this week, I thought it would be a good time to share some test-taking tips with you all.

The most important thing you need to do is calm down. Stop freaking out and panicking, because that only hinders your ability to show your knowledge. Take some deep breaths. Pretend it’s just classwork if you need to.

Now that you’re calm, focus on the test. Ignore all the other people in the room and the ticking clock, slow down, and just answer the questions. Don’t feel pressured to rush or finish first. Make sure to read all the directions carefully, otherwise you might get fooled by a trick question or use the wrong formula.

If you have messy handwriting like I do, slow down and make sure your writing is legible for the teacher. One of the things you never want to happen is when you put down the correct answer but the teacher marks it as wrong because they thought you wrote something entirely different. This will minimize the risk of this.

If you’re worried that you’re going to run out of time, just remember that you can usually go to the Testing Center to finish another time. If you’re using a scantron, make sure you’re on the right line when you’re filling in the answer bubbles. If you accidentally skip a line or fill in two bubbles on the same line, it will mark that question and all the questions after that as wrong. Be careful!

Make sure you don’t have any forbidden electronics on or near you during the midterms, because if the proctors find them, they’ll invalidate your test and you’ll get a zero. And always remember to put your name on both the test and the scantron to make sure you get the credit you deserve. The last thing you want is to get a zero on all your hard work because of something silly like forgetting you have a smart watch on or not putting your name on the scantron.

Chances are you’ve been studying and reviewing for the midterms like crazy, so when you start freaking out, remember that you already know the material. Remember your training! And above all, don’t forget: it’s not the end of the world if you get a lower grade. Good luck, everyone!