CHAPTER 1
The LearningExpress Test Preparation System
Taking any written exam can be tough. It demands a lot of preparation if you want to achieve the best possible score. The LearningExpress Test Preparation System, developed exclusively for Learning-Express by leading test experts, gives you the discipline and attitude you need to be a winner.
The LearningExpress Test Preparation System
Taking the GED® Mathematical Reasoning test is no picnic, and neither is getting ready for it. You want to earn the highest possible score, but there are all sorts of pitfalls that can keep you from doing your best on this all-important exam. Here are some of the obstacles that can stand in the way of your success:
• being unfamiliar with the format of the exam
• being paralyzed by test anxiety
• leaving your preparation until the last minute or not preparing at all
• not knowing vital test-taking skills: how to pace yourself through the exam, how to use the process of elimination, and when to guess
• not being in tip-top mental and physical shape
• messing up on exam day by having to work on an empty stomach or shivering through the exam because the room is cold
What's the common denominator in all these test-taking pitfalls? One word: control. Who's in control, you or the exam? The LearningExpress Test Preparation System puts you in control. In just nine easy-to-follow steps, you will learn everything you need to know to make sure that you are in charge of your preparation and your performance on this GED® test. Other test takers may let the exam get the better of them; other test takers may be unprepared or out of shape, but not you. After completing this chapter, you will have taken all the steps you need to get a high score on the GED® Mathematical Reasoning test.
Here's how the LearningExpress Test Preparation System works: nine easy steps lead you through everything you need to know and do to get ready for this exam. Each of the steps listed here and discussed in detail on the following pages includes both reading about the step and one or more activities. It's important that you do the activities along with the reading, or you won't be getting the full benefit of the system. Each step tells you approximately how much time that step will take you to complete.
Step 1. Get Information 30 minutes
Step 2. Conquer Test Anxiety 20 minutes
Step 3. Make a Plan 50 minutes
Step 4. Learn to Manage Your Time 10 minutes
Step 5. Learn to Use the Process of Elimination 20 minutes
Step 6. Know When to Guess 20 minutes
Step 7. Reach Your Peak Performance Zone 10 minutes
Step 8. Get Your Act Together 10 minutes
Step 9. Do It! 10 minutes
Total. 180 minutes 3 hours
We estimate that working through the entire system will take you approximately three hours. It's perfectly okay if you work at a faster or slower pace. If you can take a whole afternoon or evening, you can work through the whole LearningExpress Test Preparation System in one sitting. Otherwise, you can break it up and do just one or two steps a day for the next several days. It's up to you—remember, you are in control.
Step 1: Get Information
Time to complete: 30 minutes
Activity: Read the Introduction to This Book
Knowledge is power. The first step in the Learning-Express Test Preparation System is finding out everything you can about the types of information you will be expected to know and how this knowledge will be assessed.
What You Should Find Out
The more details you can find out about the exam, the more efficiently you will be able to study. Here's a list of some things you might want to find out:
• What skills are tested?
• How many sections are on the exam?
• How many questions are in each section?
• How much time is allotted for each section?
• How is the exam scored, and is there a penalty for wrong answers?
Step 2: Conquer Test Anxiety
Time to complete: 20 minutes
Activity: Take the Test Anxiety Quiz (later in this chapter)
Having complete information about the GED® Mathematical Reasoning test is the first step in getting control of it. Next, you have to overcome one of the biggest obstacles to test success: test anxiety. Test anxiety can not only impair your performance on the exam itself, but it can even keep you from preparing properly. In Step 2, you will learn stress management techniques that will help you succeed on your exam. Learn these strategies now, and practice them as you work through the activities in this book so they'll be second nature to you by exam day.
Combating Test Anxiety
The first thing you need to know is that a little test anxiety is a good thing. Everyone gets nervous before a big exam—and if that nervousness motivates you to prepare thoroughly, so much the better. It's said that Sir Laurence Olivier, one of the foremost British actors of the twentieth century, threw up before every performance. His stage fright didn't impair his performance; in fact, it probably gave him a little extra edge—just the kind of edge you need to do well, whether on a stage or in an examination room. On the following page is the Test Anxiety Quiz. Stop here and answer the questions on that page to find out whether your level of test anxiety is something you should worry about.
Stress Management before the Exam
If you feel your level of anxiety is getting the best of you in the weeks before the exam, here is what you need to do to bring the level down again:
• Get prepared. There's nothing like knowing what to expect and being prepared for it to put you in control of test anxiety. That's why you're reading this book. Use it faithfully, and remind yourself that you're better prepared than most of the people taking the exam.
• Practice self-confidence. A positive attitude is a great way to combat test anxiety. This is no time to be humble or shy. Stand in front of the mirror and say to your reflection, "I'm prepared. I'm full of self-confidence. I'm going to ace this exam. I know I can do it." Say it into a recorder, and play it back once a day. If you hear it often enough, you will believe it.
• Fight negative messages. Every time someone starts telling you how hard the exam is or how difficult it is to get a high score, start reciting your self-confidence messages to that person. If the someone with the negative messages is you—telling yourself you don't do well on exams, that you just can't do this—don't listen. Turn on your recorder and listen to your self-confidence messages.
• Visualize. Imagine yourself sitting in your first day of college classes, or beginning the first day of your dream job, because you have earned your GED® test credential. Visualizing success can help make it happen—and it reminds you of why you're doing all this work in preparing for the exam.
• Exercise. Physical activity helps calm down your body and focus your mind. Besides, being in good physical shape can actually help you do well on the exam. Go for a run, lift weights, go swimming—and do it regularly.
Stress Management on Test Day
There are several ways you can bring down your level of test stress and anxiety on test day. They'll work best if you practice them in the weeks before the exam, so you know which ones work best for you.
• Deep breathing. Take a deep breath while you count to five. Hold it for a count of one, and then let it out on a count of five. Repeat several times.
• Move your body. Try rolling your head in a circle. Rotate your shoulders. Shake your hands from the wrist. Many people find these movements very relaxing.
• Visualize again. Think of the place where you are most relaxed: lying on the beach in the sun, walking through the park, or whatever relaxes you. Now, close your eyes and imagine you're actually there. If you practice in advance, you will find that you need only a few seconds of this exercise to experience a significant increase in your sense of well-being.
When anxiety threatens to overwhelm you during the test, there are still things you can do to manage your stress level:
• Repeat your self-confidence messages. You should have them memorized by now. Say them quietly to yourself, and believe them!
• Visualize one more time. This time, visualize yourself moving smoothly and quickly through the exam, answering every question correctly, and finishing just before time is up. Like most visualization techniques, this one works best if you've practiced it ahead of time.
• Find an easy question. Skim over the questions on Practice Test 1 until you find an easy question, and answer it. Getting even one question answered correctly gets you into the test-taking groove.
• Take a mental break. Everyone loses concentration once in a while during a long exam. It's normal, so you shouldn't worry about it. Instead, accept what has happened. Say to yourself, "Hey, I lost it there for a minute. My brain is taking a break." Put down your pencil, close your eyes, and do some deep breathing for a few seconds. Then, you're ready to go back to work.
Try these techniques ahead of time, and see whether they work for you!
Step 3: Make a Plan
Time to complete: 50 minutes
Activity: Construct a study plan, using Schedules A through D (later in this section)
Many people do poorly on exams because they forget to make a study schedule. The most important thing you can do to better prepare yourself for your exam isto create a study plan or schedule. Spending hours the day before the exam poring over sample test questions not only raises your level of anxiety, but is also not a substitute for careful preparation and practice over time.
Don't cram. Take control of your time by mapping out a study schedule. There are four examples of study schedules on the following pages, based on the amount of time you have before the exam. If you're the kind of person who needs deadlines and assignments to motivate you for a project, here they are. If you're the kind of person who doesn't like to follow other people's plans, you can use the suggested schedules to construct your own.
In constructing your plan, take into account how much work you need to do. If your score on the diagnostic test in this book isn't what you had hoped, consider taking some of the steps from Schedule A and fitting them into Schedule D, even if you do have only three weeks before the exam. (See Schedules A through D on the next few pages.)
Even more important than making a plan is making a commitment. You can't review everything you've learned in middle or high school in one night. You have to set aside some time every day for studying and practice. Try to set aside at least 20 minutes a day. Twenty minutes daily will do you more good than two hours crammed into a Saturday. If you have months before the test, you're lucky. Don't put off your studying until the week before. Start now. Even ten minutes a day, with half an hour or more on weekends, can make a big difference in your score.
Schedule A: The Leisure Plan
This schedule gives you at least six months to sharpen your skills and prepare for the GED® Mathematical Reasoning test. The more prep time you give yourself, the more relaxed you'll feel.
• Test day minus 6 months: Take the diagnostic test in Chapter 2, then review the correct answers and the explanations. Find other people who are preparing for the exam, and form a study group.
• Test day minus 5 months: Read Chapters 3 and 4 and work through the exercises.
• Test day minus 4 months: Read Chapter 5 and work through the exercises.
• Test day minus 3 months: Read Chapter 6 and work through the exercises.
• Test day minus 2 months: Use your scores from the chapter exercises to help you decide where to concentrate your efforts this month. Go back to the relevant chapters and reread the information. Continue working with your study group.
• Test day minus 1 month: Read Chapter 7. Then, review the end-of- chapter quizzes and chapter review boxes in Chapters 3 through 6.
• Test day minus 1 week: Take and review the sample exams in Chapters 8 and 9. See how much you've learned in the past months. Concentrate on what you've done well, and decide not to let any areas where you still feel uncertain bother you.
• Day before test: Relax. Do something unrelated to the GED® test. Eat a good meal and go to bed at your usual time.
Schedule B: The Just-Enough-Time Plan
If you have three to six months before the test, that should be enough time to prepare. This schedule assumes four months; stretch it out or compress it if you have more or less time.
• Test day minus 4 months: Take the diagnostic test in Chapter 2, and review the correct answers and the explanations. Then read Chapter 3 and work through the exercises.
• Test day minus 3 months: Read Chapters 4 and 5 and work through the exercises.
• Test day minus 2 months: Read Chapter 6 and work through the exercises.
• Test day minus 1 month: Take one of the sample exams in either Chapter 8 or 9. Use your score to help you decide where to concentrate your efforts this month. Go back to the relevant chapters and reread the information, or get the help of a friend or teacher.
• Test day minus 1 week: Review Chapter 7 one last time, and take the other sample exam. See how much you've learned in the past months. Concentrate on what you've done well, and decide not to let any areas where you still feel uncertain bother you.
• Day before test: Relax. Do something unrelated to the GED® test. Eat a good meal and go to bed at your usual time.
Schedule C: More Study in Less Time
If you have one to three months before the test, you still have enough time for some concentrated study that will help you improve your score. This schedule is built around a two-month time frame. If you have only one month, spend an extra couple of hours a week to get all these steps in. If you have three months, take some of the steps from Schedule B and fit them in.
• Test day minus 8 weeks: Take the diagnostic test in Chapter 2, and review the correct answers and the explanations. Then read Chapter 3. Work through the exercises in these chapters. Review the areas in which you're weakest.
• Test day minus 6 weeks: Read Chapters 4 and 5 and work through the exercises.
• Test day minus 4 weeks: Read Chapters 6 and 7 and work through the exercises.
• Test day minus 2 weeks: Take one of the practice exams in Chapter 8 or 9. Then score it and read the answer explanations until you're sure you understand them. Review the areas where your score is lowest.
• Test day minus 1 week: Take the other sample exam. Then review both exams, concentrating on the areas where a little work can help the most.
• Day before test: Relax. Do something unrelated to the GED® test. Eat a good meal and go to bed at your usual time.
Schedule D: The Cram Plan
If you have three weeks or less before the test, you really have your work cut out for you. Carve half an hour out of your day, every day, for studying. This schedule assumes you have the whole three weeks to prepare; if you have less time, you will have to compress the schedule accordingly.
• Test day minus 3 weeks: Take the diagnostic test in Chapter 2, and review the correct answers and the explanations. Then read Chapters 3 and 4. Work through the exercises in the chapters. Review areas you're weakest in.
• Test day minus 2 weeks: Read the material in Chapters 5 through 7 and work through the exercises.
• Test day minus 1 week: Evaluate your performance on the chapter quizzes. Review the parts of chapters that explain the skills you had the most trouble with. Get a friend or teacher to help you with the section you had the most difficulty with.
• Test day minus 2 days: Take the sample exams in Chapters 8 and 9. Review your results. Make sure you understand the answer explanations. Review the sample essay outline in chapter 5, and reread the end of the chapter review box.
• Day before test: Relax. Do something unrelated to the GED® test. Eat a good meal and go to bed at your usual time.
