I’m not going to lie. Preparing for the UMAT® Exam can be pretty stressful. Practicing those questions, building your focus and managing your time for this test can sometimes become pretty overwhelming.
Guess this is how a UMAT® Exam student is supposed to feel right? Not quite.
It is important to stay positive and calm while preparing for the
UCAT. Don’t get me wrong, a little stress is always good to have. After all, it’s one of the key things that will keep you motivated and get things done. However, too much stress can be detrimental.
So how do we manage this stress? Well, here’s three things you need to have.
Have a break
Take a break when you’re stressed. It might sound like a pretty straightforward concept but you’d be surprised how many people (including me) forget to do this when we’re swamped with work.
The harder you work, the more stressed you will become. The only way to reduce this stress is…to relax. This doesn’t mean binge watching a whole TV show on Netflix. It simply means pacing yourself.
While preparing for the UMAT® Exam, ensure you take small consistent breaks. Start by chunking your work into segments (e.g. Do 20 section 1 questions in 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break). This ensures that you stay really focused throughout your preparation as those tiny breaks allow your body to recover focus and energy for you next work ‘chunk’. As you get better at focusing, you can start to have longer study sessions before you take your break. This is great way to build your focus for the 3 hours that the actual UMAT® Exam is going to take.
And when you’ve finished all your work, make sure to treat yourself with a big break at the end of the day (i.e. the binge watching of shows on Netflix).
Have a laugh
Another easy thing to add to your life. Comedy!
Hanging out with friends. Being with family. Watching stand up shows and funny movies. Do whatever you find fun and more importantly, makes you laugh. Laughing is a great as it releases hormones known as endorphins into your body, which has been found to reduce the sensation of pain and stress. It also helps muscle relaxation and blood circulation, which can help reduce some physical symptoms of stress.
Don’t worry about all that science though. Just laugh!
Have a breather
And the final tip…is to breathe. I have found this to be very useful to get rid of immediate stress or rising anxiety (which tends to happen multiple times during the UMAT® Exam test).
Taking deep, controlled breaths is great way to relax and pump some good old oxygen into your brain.
What does this do? Well, breathing deeply will lower your heart rate and reduce your cortisol levels (which are basically ‘stress hormones’).
Pretty simple, right? Deep breaths = Less stress
An extension of deep breathing is to meditate. This involves simply sitting down, closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing. You’ll find this to be pretty hard initially as your mind will keep getting distracted. That’s OK though. Just bring your thoughts back to your breathing.
Try to spend 15 minutes every day meditating and you’ll soon find yourself getting better at being able to focus on your breathing for longer periods of time. This builds focus and reduces your stress…just like the concept of breaking your work into chunks.
And that’s it! So remember to:
Rest more. Laugh More. Breathe more.
Hope you found this useful.
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