Learning to keep yourself cool during tests

学会在考试中保持冷静

Have you ever felt so panicky during an examination that you couldn’t even put down the answers you knew? If so, you were suffering from what is know as test anxiety.

你在考试时有感到惊慌以致于你知道答案然而写不下来吗？如果有，你正在遭受考试焦虑的困扰。

According to psychologist Ralph Trimble, test anxiety is a very real problem for many people. When you’re worried over your performance in an exam, your heart beats faster, your pulse speeds up and hormones are secreted. These reactions trigger others: You may sweat more than normal or suffer from a stomachache or headache. Your field of vision narrows and becomes tunnel-like, leaving you with very little peripheral sight. Before you know it, you’re having difficulty focusing.

根据心理学家雷尔夫·特林布尔，考试焦虑是很多人都存在的问题。当你在考试中忧虑超过你的实力时，你心跳会加快，脉搏会喷张以及分泌荷尔蒙。这些反应将引发其他：你比平时出汗更多或者会出现胃痛和头痛。你的视野变窄，变成一条线，只留给你一小部分的外围视线。在你知道之前，你已经难以集中注意力了。

“What I hear students say over and over again,” says Dr. Trimble, who is involved with Psychological and Counseling Center at the University of Illinois, “is ‘My mind went blank.’”

“我听学生说过很多次了，” 伊利诺州大学心理咨询中心的特林布尔医生说，“他们说‘我的头脑一片空白。’”

For a number of years, Dr. Trimble helped many students learn how to function better during exams and to bring up their grades. Some of these students were interested in sharing what they learned and, with Trimble’s help, began holding workshops on overcoming test anxiety. For many students, just being in a workshop with other sufferers was a relief. They realized they weren’t freaks, and that they were not the only ones who had done poorly in tests because of tension. The workshops were so successful that they are still given.

多年来，特林布尔医生帮助很多学生学会如何在考试中发挥更好，提高他们的学习成绩。有些学生乐意去分享他们学到的东西，在特林布尔的帮助下，开始主持克服考试焦虑研讨会。对于多数学生，在研讨会和其他一样问题的人在一起是一种安慰。他们意识到他们不是怪人，不只是他们一个人在考试因为紧张而发挥失常。研讨会很成功，会一直继续开下去。

In the workshops, students are taught that anxiety is normal. You just have to prevent it from getting the best of you. The first step is to learn to relax. If before or during an examination you start to panic, stretch as hard as you can, tensing the muscles in your arms and legs; then suddenly relax all of them. This will help relieve tension.

在研讨会里，学生们被教导道焦虑是很正常的。你只需要阻止它把你变得差劲。第一步是学会放松。如果在考试前和考试期间你陷入恐慌，尽可能的伸展自己，绷紧你手臂和大腿的肌肉；然后突然放松它们。这有助于缓解紧张。

But keep in mind that you don’t want to be too relaxed. Being completely relaxed is no better than being too tense. “If you are so calm you don’t care how you do in an examination, you won’t do well,” Trimble says. “There is an optimum level of concern when you perform at your best. Some stress that in a challenging situation, being keyed up is good and will help them do better. But if they label it anxiety and say, ‘It’s going to hit me again,’ that will push them over the edge.”

但是你要记住你不想太过放松。完全放松比高度紧张好不到哪里去。“如果你很镇静也不关心你在考试中做的怎么样，你不会考得很好。”特林布尔说道。“最佳表现有其最合适的专注程度。在有挑战性的情况下，变得紧张是好事，还能帮助你做得更好。但是如果要加上焦虑的标签并说，‘我又要受打击了，’这将把他们推到（绝望）边缘。”

As a student you must also realize that if you leave too much studying until a day or two before the examination, you can’t do the impossible and learn it all. Instead, concentrate on what you can do and try to think what questions are likely to be asked and what you can do in the time left for studying.

作为学生你必须意识到如果你在考试前落下了一两天的学习，你不可能做得好和把它们都学完。而是，把注意力集中在你能做的事情上并且试着去想在学习途中可能会被问及的问题以及你需要做什么。

When you sit down to study, set a moderate pace and vary it by interspersing reading, writing notes, and going over any papers you have already written for the course, as well as the textbooks and notes you took in class. Review what you know. Take breaks and go to sleep in plenty of time to get a good night’s rest before the exam. You should also eat a moderate breakfast or lunch, avoiding drinks with caffeine and steering clear of fellow students who get tense. Panic is contagious.

当你坐下来学习，以适中的速度并且在分散性阅读、做笔记以及重温你为课程准备好的笔记之间进行速度转换，教科书和课上笔记亦如此。复习你所知道的东西。在考试前充分的休息和睡眠。你要吃早餐和午餐，避免咖啡因饮料，避开陷入紧张的同学学生。恐慌是可以传染的。

Get to the exam room a few minutes earlier so that you will have a chance to familiarize yourself with the surroundings and get out your supplies. When the examination is handed out, read the directions twice and underline the significant instructions, making sure you understand them. Ask the teacher or proctor to explain if you don’t. first answer the easiest questions, then go back to the more difficult. If you are stumped on a multiple-choice question, first eliminate the impossible answers, then make as good an intuitive guess as possible and go on to the next.

提前一点时间到达考试室，你就有机会熟悉身边的事物，然后拿出你的考试用品。当考试试卷发下来了，阅读上面的说明两次，划下重要的指示，并确保你能看懂它们。如果你不懂可以问老师或者监考人。第一先回答简单的问题，然后再倒回去看更难的问题。如果你被多项选择题难住了，第一先去掉不可能的答案，然后尽可能做出如直觉般好的选择然后转到下一题。

On essay questions, instead of plunging right in, take a few minutes to organize your thoughts, make a brief outline, and then start off with a summary sentence. Keep working steadily , and even when time starts to run out, don’t speed up.

文章问题，不像选词填空，花点时间组织语言，做个简短的概括，然后开始写总结句。循序渐进，即使时间快结束了，也不要加速。

After the examination is over, don’t torture yourself by thinking over all the mistakes you made, and don’t start studying immediately for another exam. Instead. Give yourself an hour or two of free time.

考试结束之后，不要再去想自己犯的错来折磨自己了，也不要马上开始准备另一门考试。而是，给自己一到两个小时的自由时间。

Among the students who are working now as volunteer leaders in the workshops are a few who started out panicky and unable to function in exams. They learned how to deal with test anxiety and are now teaching others. It’s almost as easy as ABC.

在学生间以自愿领导人的身份在研讨会工作的是曾经在考试中出现紧张和发挥失常的学生。他们学会了如何处理考试焦虑并教导其他学生，和教ABC一样简单。