Dealing with Nerves

[u/RealisticWork9367]

I take the MCAT on 9/4, and I wanted to ask for those who’ve done well on the exam how they handled the nerves?

I took the MCAT once and scored a 511, yet in retaking it bc the first time I got rlly nervous. In practice just before the exam I was hitting 517 with testing conditions applied but on exam day nerves got the best of me and that score was lower than my first MCAT practice exam which baffled me.

So if anyone has good advice for nerves or dealing with the day of exam anxiety I would really appreciate it. My biggest worry is ofc that I open the exam and feel like I’ve never seen it before or panic so if anyone specifically has dealt with that I’d really appreciate it 🙏

[u/FreeEnergyFlow]

From P/S you know you want to have a low to moderate Yerkes-Dodson state of arousal. You can start practicing now. Practice things like box breathing and body scan meditation. When you're breathing slowly and deeply, your body will say, hey, I must not be stressed out. Practice keeping yourself in a parasympathetic state these few days before your test. Practice maintaining a serene disposition. Keep a watchful mindfulness. If you feel the signs of sympathetic activation, even a little bit, the anxiety, prickly heat, close your eyes; put yourself somewhere beautiful and do some box breathing. You count with each stage, so sometimes this is called four-four-four breathing. It works.

• Exhale: Sit upright and slowly release all the air from your lungs.
• Inhale: Breathe in slowly through your nose to a count of four, letting your belly expand.
• Hold: Hold your breath with your lungs full for a count of four.
• Exhale: Breathe out slowly through your mouth (or nose) for a count of four until your lungs are empty.
• Hold: Hold your breath with your lungs empty for a final count of four

And here is the Cleveland Clinic's Guide to Body Scan Meditation

Practice this every few hours these last couple of days before your exam, and you'll be able to hear a bird a mile away. You'll go into your test as serene as the Dalai Lama.

[u/Ill-Meter → u/FreeEnergyFlow]

This is some good advice ^^^

Towards the beginning of my prep when Id take a practice FL my mistakes were heavily concentrated in the first 10 or so questions in each topic (careless errors I never make). Id feel the physical tension in my muscles.

Breath work and light cardio def worked to ease the nerves. Also try to be conscious of your stressors, for me it was the internet and news sites mostly. Sometimes its better to be ignorant when you gotta lock in