Armour For Your Nerves Before CLAT - tips and psychological manipulation to kill your negative anxiety

Be excited, not worried. Image from stockvault.net

Tension. Anxiety. Nerves. How do you deal with these things before an exam? Especially if it is an exam which is a gateway for you to a world you have been fantasizing about for a while now, for which you have prepared for months, and you want to be at your best during the two hours of the exam. Alert, feeling sharp and energetic. There are a dozen thing to worry about – length of paper, difficulty level, strange GK questions. Last thing you want to come between you and your law schools dream is your own anxiety which may compromise your performance. What's the best way to deal with exam blues?

Look, no one likes exams much. That's the natural order of things. Some of us are positively scared of exams. Acknowledge it to yourself. Realise how afraid you are. Don't sweep it under the carpet, face it right now. And then tell yourself that it's alright to be afraid. Some anxiety is productive. It can be used to propel yourself faster, harder. You have been waiting for this moment for a long time. You are going to fight it hard, you won't give an inch without a fight. Channel your anxiety into a fighting spirit.

There are two things you can do to achieve the perfect mental state during a test.

First, rehearse. Take mock tests. Attempt to solve past years papers in less time than the allotted time. This practice of testing yourself under adverse conditions will make your nerves used to such pressure. You should even feel a little thrilled about the exam, as this is the one exam that is going to transform your life. From school to law school. Your way to a rich, fast-track lifestyle; or a key to your empowerment for changing the lives of others in a few years down the line.

See the big picture. Visualise where you want to be. Know in your heart that that is where you belong. Feel calm, feel at home with your dreams. Know that you will achieve them. CLAT is just a small step in the whole scheme. This battle will be won, there is no other way. Writing CLAT and doing well is just an eventuality.

In short, practice a lot (solve a couple of past years papers right now if you haven't been doing that yet) and feel at home with the idea that you are destined to make it through to CLAT. Taking the exam and acing is just a matter of course.

The second thing you can work on is really interesting. This draws on the strength of your subconcious mind, and is a terrific hack to prepare your concious mind to battle fiercely without feeling the pressure. Before sleeping every night from now on till before CLAT, as you lie in your bed, close your eyes and imagine being in the exam hall. Imagine the bell ring, and the feel the paper kept in front of you, waiting to be opened, waiting for you to start solving. Imagine the tip of your pencil touching the red and white mosaic of the OMR sheet. Feel the anxious tension, like you are about to be launched. Like you are about to be unleashed on the paper with all your alertness and attention, destroying the problems one by one. Its a hard battle, but you know the ending of this story. You are winning.

Read the previous paragraph before you go to sleep tonight. And imagine this before you fall asleep. Your brain and mind will take care of the rest. Let me know if you get tensed or nervous while taking the real test after doing this on three consecutive nights.