Managing Anxiety Before Test Day

Victor Piemonte

With the bar exam approaching and now just a few weeks away, it's normal to be feeling anxiety. After all the preparation and hard work, you want to make sure that you're at your best on test day. The question becomes, "How do you manage that anxiety to make sure it's not a negative on test day?" There are several tools you can utilize to help yourself, and a few of them are below:

1. Prepare like it's test day - While you won't be able to simulate the high heart rate/adrenaline rush of test day fully, practicing with test-like conditions is a great way to get you ready for test day. If you don't have 6 hours to carve out for a full-length MBE, do the best you can in chunks. Example - try and do 34 questions in 1 hour. This can help get you ready for the anxiety of the big day.
2. Prepare for the day itself - Ask yourself, what will this day be like? Will you be waking up at a hotel? Will you be driving to the site? Don't obsess, but making a plan for what the test days will look like can help you mentally be ready and help handle the anxiety.
3. Be kind to yourself - This sounds easy but can be quite hard! Remind yourself that YOU HAVE DONE GREAT things! You are ready! Trust your training. Reminding yourself of the work you've put in is a great way to quiet the anxiety telling you that you aren't prepared.

There are TONS of ways to battle anxiety and one of the most important is to realize "You're going to be a bit stressed on or before test day." Be prepared mentally and the day itself will go much better. What are other peoples best practices for dealing with anxiety?