Don't just wander into your exam room casually. Try to be one of the first students into the exam room so that you can choose a good seat (assuming seating is not assigned, as it sometimes is). A good seat is one that gives you a clear view of the proctor and of the central clock in the room that the proctor will be monitoring to time the test.
When I took exams I always preferred seats in the very back of the room because I didn?t like the feeling that something was going on behind my back that I couldn?t see. You may be different and prefer a seat as close to the front of the room as possible. The important thing is to choose a seat that suits you, and not one that you take by default.
Get ready to set your digital timepiece to zero you want it to count up, not down and await the proctor?s signal.
ALWAYS MAINTAIN YOUR GRIP DURING THE TEST ? AND IF YOU LOSE IT, REGAIN CONTROL
One of the things you?ll probably have to deal with during the NAT is distraction. Someone sniffling or coughing or tapping a pencil are one thing, but I?ve heard stories of distractions ranging from pile drivers at a nearby construction site to the school?s band ? tubas, drums, trombones, cymbals ? practicing on the field outside. Some distractions are insidious, like hearing the jingle from a commercial playing over and over in your head.
Use distractions as reminders to get back to the test in front of you. If someone in the room is distracting you, raise the hand you?re not writing with to attract the proctor?s attention but keep working while you wait for the proctor to get to your desk.
KEEP MOVING WHILE THE CLOCK'S TICKING
Don't count on the proctor to be accurate or consistent about writing the time remaining in a section on the board. Monitor your time continually as you work through each section.
Watch out or you may enter a time warp. You start working on a difficult question that has you stumped, and before you know it, you space out, Suddenly you ?come to? with a jolt and realize that you've just spent the last few minutes doing nothing!
To avoid time warps and spacing out in general, keep your ballpoint moving every few seconds, marking up your answer sheet. Don?t ever let your ballpoint lift more than a couple of inches off the page; keep it poised to mark up questions.
Speaking of keeping your ballpoint moving, don?t spend forever bubbling in our answer sheet. It?s not uncommon to see a student in the exam room artistically darkening a bubble for ten or fifteen seconds. If you waste even two or three seconds per question bubbling in your answer, you?ll waste a minute by the end of the section ? or over five minutes wasted on the entire test!
For most of the test, keep your answer sheet under your test booklet. Always, always, always write your answer in your test booklet before you transfer your answers ? in groups. Like once every page ? ver to your answer sheet.
NO MATTER HOW WELL YOU?VE PREPARED FOR THE NAT, IT?S ALWAYS GOOD TO WALK IN FEELING A LITTLE UNPREPARED
Taking the real NAT is always, always different from taking practice tests that you know don?t count. The NAT does count, and you know it. It?s the same difference an athlete feels between a practice game and one in the final round of a championship.
The reason it?s good to feel a little ? just a little ? unprepared is that you won?t be thrown too badly by the inevitable surprises that occur on the exam. Students who feel completely prepared are too easily thrown for a loop when things in the actual exam room don?t go exactly as they?d expected.
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