Stress and anxiety are two factors that more or less can directly and immensely impact your performance while taking your CAT exam. Without a doubt, this could not be truer if you’re taking it for the first time. Even if you feel like you took the best CAT exam coaching classes, it still won’t guarantee that you’ll be able to remain stress-free and focused as the day of the exam draws near.
That said, there’s no better time to do your best to prevent stress and boost your concentration than the day before the exam. Make no mistake, you should already be taking extra steps to ensure this the year before you take the exam. It will only make it easier for you to get the hang of relaxation techniques to optimally condition your body and mind to properly respond to stressors and focus better.
However, as the best CAT coaching would most probably attest, the day before the CAT exam is crucial because it would determine the quality of sleep you get. The importance of having a well-rested mind before taking a taxing, complicated exam is pretty much a no brainer.
Good news: there are ways for you to ensure this. And you don’t need to look further than the proven-working guidelines past CAT exam passers and CAT online coaching services can swear by. We’ve compiled them all here for your ready reference.
1. Take the day off, go outside, and do some light exercise.
If you have work, consider forgoing it for a day. Besides any kind of relaxation habit you’ll undoubtedly be doing a day before the CAT exam, it wouldn’t hurt to take the opportunity to go outside because there’s plenty of research that backs up the ability of fresh, outdoor air to significantly lower stress and free you from nagging thoughts.
The benefit obviously readily extends to your ability to concentrate on what matters the most. Clear-minded is the better term to describe this state, and you’ll want to get into it as much as possible before you take the exam. Don’t take the lack of sun or a “bad” day as an excuse to not go outside. The real magic lies in the outdoor air and how you’ll be able to take most of it while taking a walk or doing some light jogging.
2. Free yourself from unnecessary distractions.
This not only keeps your mind free from anxiety and worries but does well to maintain your focus, too. Of course, you’ll still need to be mindful of all the formulas, concepts, and other information you took in. But be sure not to add anything more to them, even the mock tests you took and especially social media — unless you suddenly face an emergency, that is.
Yes, you can still do some revisions to your formulas if you need to do them or go over stuff you want to double-check. But at the end of the day, you should already be confident and calm once you hit the hay.
3. Seek support from friends and family.
Especially if you are still dealing with worries and exam anxiety issues. Nothing compares to the beneficial effects of having someone to talk to, who would know how to keep your mind appeased and bolster your mood and motivation. Understandably, all that stress you built up as you prepared and studied would not magically go away, even if you’ve been trying to keep them in check through relaxation techniques.
Once you begin to voice out what’s bugging you, though, then you’ll practically be halfway to inducing your mind into a more focused and calm state. All the better if you got into a study group or had study buddies to prepare with. Simple words of encouragement from them would already go a long way, besides airing out your worries.
4. Don’t force sleep.
Obviously, you’ll be needing to get the best sleep in your life as much as possible before your exam. However, the more you force it, the more you’ll end up not sleeping in the first place. If it isn’t the exam the next day that would keep you up, it would be sleep anxiety.
Sleep should come naturally, which if you’ve conditioned your mind to do shouldn’t be a struggle to achieve. Of course, this is easier said than done — this is why we can’t assert the importance of adopting a habit as soon as possible. In short, sleep should be a priority, but don’t let it get into your head that it becomes completely counterproductive.
If you’re confident that you did all you can to be prepared, then virtually nothing should be keeping you up come bedtime.
The Sooner You Start Relaxation Habits, the Better
Like taking CAT live online classes, adopting a routine to combat stress early on would prove to pay off in the long run. It sets your mind up for optimal conditioning, after all. This routine, of course, should take into account your sleeping and eating habits as well, not just the steps that you’ll actively take to train your mind to focus and fight stress. These steps could be the standard, proven-effective ones like yoga, meditation, guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, etc.
What’s good is that almost any kind of high-quality CAT exam course would undoubtedly teach you about the importance of having this mindset. Almost any preparation center that takes the initiative to teach you about the necessity of relaxation habits is already excellent in our book.
Conclusion
Staying stress-free is really a question of whether you’ll be willing to make an effort to condition your mind before your CAT exam. It takes dedication and drive, which, admittedly not a lot of people are too keen on incorporating into their lives. Even so, doors will always remain open for you in this regard. It’s up to you whether you’ll enter them or not — or how dedicated you are in passing your CAT exam.
