You’re going for a job. Change is stressful at the best of times...but then you’re asked to do a test as part of the process. Your stress levels rocket! You dream about school exams. How can you be sure you don’t mess up your answers.

Calm down. Here are some simple tips to help you do your best at tests.

• Read the instructions and the text at the start of any question very carefully. Many people make mistakes because they’ve misunderstood what they’re supposed to do, not because they can’t do it.
• Some tests start with practice questions. Don’t worry if you get these wrong; they’re quite often designed to ensure you make silly mistakes before you get into the real test.
• Don’t spend too long on any one question. Some tests get harder as they go on, some easier, some ask questions randomly. So, you can always go back to questions that are holding you up.
• Be careful how you mark your answers, particularly on computer-scored answer sheets. If you change your answer, make sure your final choice is clear.

Specific strategies may work well:

• in multiple choice tests, rule out the obviously untrue answers and concentrate on those that are left
• spend some time at the beginning looking at the amount of time you have and the number of questions you have to answer. Check as you go along.

BUT, if this sort of structured working is not natural to you, don’t force it. You’ll end up feeling unsure of yourself and won’t perform optimally.

• If there’s time at the end, go back over your answers.
• If anything disturbs you ( noises from in or outside the room for instance ) or something goes wrong ( your pencil breaks or, even, you suspect a mistake in the test ), let the person supervising you know straight away.
• Like athletes and actors, you’ll do your best if there’s some adrenalin in your system, so don’t worry about worrying.