Law school is essentially a three-year education in formal test-taking.

To even get in to law school you have to pass through the fire of the standardized LSAT test (essentially the SAT that you took to get into college, but on steroids). Many people begin studying for this test months in advance.

If and when you get to law school, the entire grade for a given class is typically based on a single final exam at the end of a semester.

Very often those exams are closed-book (keep in mind that law textbooks are so large and heavy, many people use rolling suitcases to get their books to class every day) and very tightly timed.

Combined with the reality that these tests are usually graded on a strict curve with only a certain number of “A’s” allotted per class, and stress in exams is not just a possibility, it’s inevitable.

Law school is not set up this way just to be sadistic. It’s designed to prepare you for the exam to end all exams: the Bar Exam.

The Bar is like a standard law school exam that lasts not a few hours, but a few days - and just in case you think having all that time makes it easier, think again … I remember leaving the exam room each day with my right hand twisted into a claw, completely cramped from writing essay answers furiously in pencil.

As much as law school was intended as an education in how to take a high-pressure exam, there was very little in the way of actual test-taking strategy discussed.

The mentailty was essentially sink-or-swim.

Professors (who by virtue of their position had performed very well on law school exams themselves) seemed to think that good students who studied hard would get the best grades …

That was not my experience at all.

I regularly took note of many fellow students who seemed to perform very well in class, but bombed on test day.

I can remember thinking … what gives?

Law students love to gossip about a test, both immediately afterwards and after getting their grades. The sorts of comments you would hear from a person who had a just bombed a big test were surprisingly consistent:

“I got stuck on one question, lost track of time and ended up wasting half the exam period trying to figure it out.”

“I tried to go too fast and ended up rushing through the questions and missing several issues.”

“I kept looking up from my paper to check the timer, and couldn’t focus.”

Do you notice a common thread running through each of these comments?

A preoccupation with time.

What is the one thing that is constantly changing during a test, while everything else stays the same? The clock. Time.

What does change mean? Change means stress.

The key to dealing with stress in exams is to focus on time. 9 times out of 10, students study for exams without subjecting themselves to the same time-restricted conditions that they will experience on the test.

If they practice timed tests, it’s usually the last thing they do before the exam.

If you’re having trouble with exam stress, focus on time. As you become more comfortable with the time management issue, you will find that your stress in exams melts away.

You can also work on your stress management skills directly with my best-selling program THE STRESS VACCINE™.

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