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Before you take your first tests, locate your campus’s learning center. Almost every campus has one, and helping students study for tests is one of its specialties. The best students, good students who want to be the best students, and students with academic difficulties use learning centers and tutoring services. These services are offered by both full-time professionals and highly skilled student tutors, and they are usually free. If you are an online student, there may be a special learning center that focuses on helping you do your best in online courses.
College and university counseling centers offer a wide array of services, including workshops and individual or group counseling for test anxiety. Sometimes these services are also offered by the campus health center. Ask your first-year seminar instructor where you can find counseling services on your campus. If you are an adult student, you may be very anxious about your first tests. Seek out services designed specifically for adults.
Often the best help we can get is the closest to us. Keep an eye out in your classes, residence hall, and extracurricular activities for the best students, those who appear to be the most serious, purposeful, and directed. Find a tutor. Join a study group. Talk with your peer leader. Students who do these things are much more likely to be successful than those who do not.
A wealth of helpful resources is available from many institutions. For instance, Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Learning and Student Success (CLASS) offers a list of tips to help you prepare for exams: fau.edu/CLASS/success/keys_to_success.php. The State University of New York offers some excellent strategies for exam preparation: blog.suny.edu/2013/12/scientifically-the-best-ways-to-prepare-for-final-exams. And here is some exam preparation advice from the University of Leicester in England: www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/healthy-living-for-students/preparation-for-exams.