Congratulations, we’d like you to join our faculty.
Yay!
There’s just one more thing that we need you to do, take a test.
Gulp~
I hadn’t taken a high-stakes standardized test in 32 years. As a matter of fact, I’ve gone out of my way to make sure that I haven’t had to. In college, I chose courses where a term paper was the graded event and not an in-class exam. I didn’t go to law school because just the thought of the LSAT or the Bar exam was enough to throw me into a cold sweat. I’ve made important life choices based on what option would allow me to indulge my fear of test-taking.
Over the years, this fear morphed into me being stuck when asked to fill in a form especially if it required manipulating numbers. Fortunately, over the years I had obliging employees who would get forms started for me (ok, they would sometimes complete them), or organize the numerical information for me so that then I could make executive decisions using it. And, I’ve been fortunate to have friends who can mentally split the restaurant bill three ways. Thank you (I think).
Let’s get something straight. I’m smart. As an adult, I can recognize that, and yet I have never felt confident working with numbers since the 3rd grade.
Insert here my roll-off-the-tongue quip: “Scarred at an early age by a timed rote Math test.” As an adolescent, I thought that anyone who could do Math fast or in their head was smarter and better prepared for life. So when my new employer said that I needed to take a test, my first reaction was “oh @#$%&” and a flash back to Mr. Shacht, my 11th grade Algebra teacher.
Bless his heart, he found me in a state of tearful panic during midterms when my mind drew a complete blank. I had over-studied and was over-wrought, even going to the wrong room. He helped me “remember” three formulas, and I was able to complete (not necessarily correctly) ten out of the sixty problems. On the day that grades were returned, he called me up to his desk and said, sheepishly, “I did the best I could for you…I gave you a D on the final.” He let me pass. He didn’t fail me. To this day I am grateful to him for that compassionate gift.
FAST
FORWARD TO EARLIER THIS MONTH when I opened the online study
guide to begin my preparations for the elementary education proficiency exam I
would take in one week. Hmmm, no familiar flush of panic. I read the introduction which provided some really good test-taking strategic advice.
Hmmm, so far, so good. I got up from my seat and took a brief break. I sat back down and read about the objectives of the test which would examine all aspects of everything that every elementary school student should know in 2011.
I quickly realized that this was more than the material of my ancient high
school education, every subject including Social Studies, the Sciences,
Geography, Algebra, Geometry, Music and Art.
Still, no panic. I studied and breaked for the rest of the week.
Studying meant that I took notes about what I was reading/learning in the exam guide. I set some interim goals like when to complete certain portions or subjects. Sometimes the goal was a clock time or a time of day. I met every one of my goals! That meant that every day I felt like a success. I had accomplished what I set out to do. It did not mean that I had memorized or learned everything perfectly; but, I knew where to find the information. Taking the time to handwrite section sub-headings and brief notes made tangible brain connections for me.
DURING MY STUDY WEEK, I added in an extra yoga class to balance out being sedentary, and I enjoyed various meals out with friends. I woke up early (good morning brain), stayed up late (good late night brain), and napped on the couch in between study shifts. I chewed gum or trail mix and crunchy crackers. I also played the piano and sang really loudly when I could feel fatigue setting in. One day I got a lot of studying accomplished for couple of hours while in the waiting room of a doctor’s office where I had driven a friend; the background hum blocked out internal distractions.
I swore off caffeine and wine to preserve my middle-aged brain cells. I didn’t
watch TV much. But if I did turn it on, I treadmilled at the same time or I crocheted as I sat there, a mindless manual activity that silently integrated and stored what I had learned that day.
My Pandora stations kept my mood upbeat and moving forward as I rhythmically made mental lists of scientific factors or mathematical rules. And to wind down at night, I read a family-saga historical fiction that engaged my imagination and transported me to a world that had nothing to do with what I had studied that day; I went to sleep without the exam being the last thing on my mind.
ON MY LAST STUDY DAY, I skimmed through my notes for each subject, again breaking the task down into manageable pieces according to topic and time. I highlighted with different colors things that I wanted to specifically remember and things that I wanted to double check in the text. I wrote out a few notecards with things that I felt sure would be on the exam. I eliminated pages of information that I confidently knew, thereby visibly truncating final review.
THE NIGHT BEFORE THE TEST, I stayed in a hotel close to the testing site which was about an hour away from my home. I took a practice drive through the unfamiliar neighborhood. A friend and I went out for an amazing barbeque supper, laughing and talking for hours. I broke an outdated cardinal rule; I stopped studying! I didn’t get all stressed out that night or the following morning. I knew what I knew, and that was that. I did, however review the ANSWER pages of the practice tests; not to learn more facts, but to remind myself of HOW to THINK about the design of each question/answer set.
THE MORNING OF THE TEST, I felt like an athlete getting ready for a race. I had preplanned what I was going to eat, choosing foods to boost my stamina and alertness. I had read the rules and knew not to bring my cell-phone or any bags on site.My gear was
gathered (#2 pencils, chewing gum, energy snack, water bottle, analog watch, two forms of I.D., the test admission receipt). Wearing comfortable clothes and my favorite empowering perfume, I arrived early (good thing because there were 1400 other people parking on this hot day).
WHEN THE EXAM BOOKLET WAS PASSED OUT, I made friends with the answer sheet. I picked it up, noticed that it was made from recycled paper (less glare), was printed in shades of blue (letters and numbers less likely to ‘float’), and that it had large spaces between lines (enough room to place a tracking finger ).
I liked that alternate lines were shaded, and that there were fewer columns, also well-spaced on the page. I paid attention to how many lines of answers were in each column (shorter columns on the front of the sheet). Like I said, I made friends with the bubble sheet. I took the exam calmly, keeping track of my time and progress, and occasionally taking sips of water which reminded me to breathe.
IMPORTANTLY, I WENT IN WITH A STRATEGY OF HOW TO APPROACH THE QUESTIONS. The rules stated that guessing was encouraged, no penalty for wrong answers. Whew! If a monkey can get 25% correct on a multiple choice test, certainly I could do better:
- a. If I knew an answer right away, before even reading the four options, I figured that was most likely the correct answer, if it appeared as a choice. I still considered each other option quickly with an open mind and marked the question as one not to revisit.
- b. If I had absolutely no clue about a question, I simply randomly guessed, not wasting time on trying to identify the best guess. I marked that question as one not to waste any future time on. The monkey strategy.
- c. If I felt like I could get to the right answer with more time, I marked the question to come back to, but took a random guess before moving on. Modified monkey. With time left over at the end, I re-considered the question and only changed my original answer if I could eliminate one of the choices. Otherwise, there was no reason to change a perfectly good random answer.
- d. If I could right away narrow the answers by eliminating at least one or two of the options, I made my best educated guess, and marked the question as one to be returned to at the end when I had more time to think about it. Of those questions, I later changed only a few answers, trusting that my original best guess could not be improved upon.
WHY AM I SHARING ALL THIS DETAIL HERE? Because these were strategies that worked for me by helping me FOCUS productively during my study
week and during the test itself. Some tips I’ve learned through my involvement with the ADHD community of educators. Others I’ve developed intuitively over time and they work for me and others with whom I’ve shared. Here’s a short list:
- Break tasks down into smaller components, both substance and time
- Take frequent breaks and remember to breathe
- Stay active to increase endorphins
- Do something creative to stimulate the synapses in brain
- Find your best study atmosphere, you may need noise while someone else needs quiet.
- Eat right and get plenty of sleep for both body and mind
- Chew gum if you are allowed
- Find the right chemical balance for your brain and refill that prescription
- Remember that having ADHD doesn’t mean that you are not smart.
- Seek out strategies, become aware of what works for you, share it
I feel like I passed the test, but won’t know for a few more weeks. Even without knowing the end result, I already feel successful. I overcame a fear of tests and avoidance of numbers, a burden that I’ve carried for many years. I made use of proven and practical information about test-taking and ADHD and applied it to my own circumstances. What I’ve shared here works for both children and adults. If you know someone who might benefit from any part of this information, please pass it along.

Brain foods for kids.

Debbie