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Guest blogging at Stanford
TEST SUCCESS! continues to get attention!
Do have a look on The College Puzzle, a college success blog by noted Stanford University educator Dr. Michael W. Kirst. Dr Kirst invited me to write a guest post, today featured on his website. The article is, “Get a Grip on Test Stress.”
Dr. Kirst’s blog is a most useful resource for college students helping them through the challenges of their college years. Do check it out, and thank you Dr. Kirst for including Test Success! in your mission.
Dr. B on KPIX-CBS, KRON and more.
"Bay Sunday" with Frank Mallicoat
A full weekend!
Two TV interviews on Sunday. The first was on CBS (local affiliate KPIX), Bay Sunday with Frank Mallicoat
Next was on NBC (KRON) AM Weekend with Ysabel Duron and Marty Gonzales.
The press release on the book got picked up by HowToLearn.com and a news story comes out on Monday in US News and World Report.
Thank you Sharon Goldinger, Mary Ellen Gross and Javier Perez, my terrific publicists. Your dedicated, focused hardwork is paying off big time.
Lots of good suggestions
The web is offers an infinite number of valuable suggestion for students. The latest is from a blogger named Jannelle Martel who shares her thoughts on reducing test anxiety. She suggests three stages: strategize, plan and practice. Good and comprehensive. I’d add one more thing: learn how to keep yourself calm. Janelle is covering two of the “legs” in our three legged stool model: confidence and focus. To keep things balanced we need the third leg: calm. Staying calm during the study phase and calm on the test. You can get a thorough explanation and useful tools right on this website. Use the tools and let me know what has helped you and what questions you may have. Thank you Jannelle!
Tried and true tutoring advice
You go tutors!
Every day I receive Google alerts about stories and statistics regarding test anxiety, test scores and test preparation. I like to keep current with what’s going on in the field.
Here’s one that came across my desk today: It’s from “Janice R.” who runs a tutoring service in Palm Coast, Florida. Janice offers a good roadmap for students: familiarize yourself with the test, do some solid preparation and get ready for test day.
How often we overlook the essentials!
I applaud Janice R for getting the word out and offering what she can to students who may not be getting the guidance they need and deserve. Keep up the good work!
Janice R is a tutor at WyzAnt.com. Check out their website. While I am not personally familiar their services and therefore can’t yet recommend them, I definitely am intrigued to find out more, and suggest you look them over too.
Bring in a new year with every breath
Take a moment to breathe
New Year’s greetings to everyone, far and wide! May it be a year of peace, health and prosperity for all.
Since the beginning of a new year is usually filed with resolutions– which are really thinly disguised attempts to change habits — I’m going to begin the year with a series of posts on habits.
Habits determine the quality of our lives. And they are fundamental if you want to reduce your stress around taking tests.
Life is made up of habits. Think about it. As you are reading this you are breathing (whether you are aware of your breath or not). As Continue reading
It’s OK not to know
A young girl was brought to me because she was failing in math. Her parents were concerned that she wouldn’t get admitted to the competitive middle school to which she was applying. And there was also another potential problem: the interview. The girl, I’ll call her Amy, tended to shut down with strangers.
Sure enough, she wouldn’t talk to me.
OK, I thought, now what? I saw Amy eyeing a set of colored markers Continue reading
Your question: “How to get rid of anxiety before an exam?”
You need some energy to perform well
Today’s question is: How do I get rid of my anxiety before an exam?
Answer: You don’t get “rid” of anxiety. A little bit of anxiety has been shown (in over a hundred years of research) to be a good thing. Remember the “Yerkes-Dodson curve” (see illustration). Yerkes and Dodson were two psychologists who showed, at the beginning of the 20th century, that there’s a direct relationship between stress and performance. Too much or too little stress and performance suffers. You Continue reading
Test prep & neuroscience
Our amazing brain: constantly seeking connection
Having just attended the Learning & the Brain conference in Chicago, I am struck with two competing thoughts I’d like to share: how much science there is about the brain, and what a challenge it is for teachers to integrate the findings into their daily practice. I attended fascinating lectures about many new scientific studies on the brain and motivation, gender similarities and differences, stress, etc., but at the same time I was left wondering, “How do I implement these discoveries in my work as a teacher and a coach?” I would like to suggest we need more collaboration between researchers and practitioners– between the scientists and the teachers. One of the
To build self-confidence: reach out
Need help? Confide in someone.
Recently a student came to see me. She said that she was having great difficulty with the one of the subjects in her medical school program. “I feel like everyone else is getting what’s going on and I’m not.” She was embarrassed to tell anyone she was having difficulty and so pretended that she understood what was going on when, in fact, she did not. This
Are you worrying? Stop!
Worrying? Again?
Do you find yourself worrying about an upcoming test? Or, when you are in the middle of an exam answering questions, are you worrying then?
The first thing to know is that it’s normal. Just about everyone worries from time to time.
Second, know this: worrying never solves anything. Anything. Worrying just breeds more worrying. Haven’t you noticed that when you continue to worry
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