Sometimes it’s the simplest thing that can make all the difference.

But the simplest thing may not be so obvious.

The other day Gabe was studying for a French test. It was a pretty easy test on verbs, and he had memorized some of the irregular verbs by memorizing an acronym. Very good strategy.

But, when I made a little test for him, he got half of them wrong.

When I asked him to write out the acronym for me, and also write out the other things he had studied, he knew them!

Why then had he got half of them wrong?

He got nervous? Test anxiety? Got overwhelmed as he read the questions? Felt rushed? Got confused? Whatever the reason for him getting them wrong, it was totally preventable!

My advice: as soon as you sit down in a test, write down all the acronyms you memorized and all the little tricks, or formulas. Unload your brain! That way, your brain doesn’t need to keep holding on to all the info you have studied. It can be written right beside you and then you can focus on the test and relax. You have a little “cheat sheet” (that’s not cheating!) right beside you to refer to throughout the test.

Gabe noted that all the questions he got wrong, he would have had right had he just written the acronym down and referred to it!

A simple idea that can have big results.