The Day Before the Exam

1. Take the day off from studying.
Research has shown that anything you study right before an exam is more likely to hurt than help your performance. Why? Because the last-studied information is still floating around in your short term memory and actually interferes with recall of information that you studied days, weeks or even months before.

2. Plan something fun to do as a reward for all the effort you have put into getting ready.
Call friends to make plans for after the exam is over. Take in a good movie or shop at a favorite store. In short, do something appealing that you put off during the previous weeks of preparing and treat yourself to something special.

3. Watch your intake of caffeine.
Nothing drives up your anxiety level faster than not being able to fall asleep the night before an exam, so avoid beverages like coffee, tea, or colas unless they are decaffeinated.

4. Try to relax with physically tiring activities like swimming, jogging, or biking so that you will feel tired enough to sleep.
A warm shower or bath close to bedtime will also help relax you. Unless you know exactly how it will affect you the next day, avoid taking any sleeping medications because they may leave you feeling groggy.

5. Lay out everything you will need the night before so you won't have to stress out locating your lucky shirt or the test permit tomorrow morning.
If you plan to drive to the test center, make sure you have enough gasoline.