Reducing Stress During Testing

During the Test, you may become stressed, tired or anxious. You may find it difficult to understand English, or difficult to focus on finding a piece of information. You may start sweating, or get nervous thinking you don’t have enough time to finish the Questions. This happens to many people during the TOEIC Test, especially after the first hour of the test.

Controlling your stress will help you with staying focused during the Test, so you can answer Questions more quickly and efficiently. Luckily, there are some things you can do to help reduce your stress during the Test.

Here is one exercise you can do:

1. Close your Eyes

2. Breathe. There is nothing better than taking 3 Deep Breaths to help you reduce stress. Often when stressed, people forget to breathe, or breathe too quickly. Deep breaths bring more oxygen to your brain and will help you focus better on the TOEIC Test. For each breath:
• Breathe through your nose.
• Hold your breath inside for 3 seconds (count to 3 in your head…1…2…3).
• Breath out slowly through your mouth or nose.

Doing this is like stepping out of the TOEIC Test Room for a moment to relax.

3. Visualize a Beautiful Nature Scene. With your eyes closed, imagine you are in a place of natural beauty. It can be the beach at the ocean, a grassy field surrounded by trees, a calm lake or river, or a mountaintop. See the colors of the flowers and grass around you, hear the sound of the ocean waves or river, feel the warmth of the sun and cool breeze. This sounds a little silly, but it helps!

Breath through your nose (see above), and let a feeling of peace, calm and contentment come over you. Stay in the place of natural beauty for about 10-15 seconds.

You only need to do the above relaxation exercise for about 15-20 seconds to help reduce your stress.

One thing to note is that during the Listening Section of the Test, it will be difficult to find time to relax, because you cannot pause the CD. However, during the listening section, you can use the short Instruction Times at the beginning of each Part of the Listening Section, when the Narrator is talking to close your eyes and breathe.

The TOEIC test is not just measuring your English language skills, it is measuring your ability to manage your stress. So, when you’re feeling anxious or can’t focus, go to your happy nature place!