When applying to be an education major, whether that be elementary or secondary education, the first thing college tour guides gave you was the fact that you would need to take the Praxis exams. I'm sure almost immediately your heart raced, and your palms became sweaty. You had just taken your SAT, or were about to take your SAT and now you were being told you would have to take more tests. You hadn't even started college and you were already dreading it!

Unlike many, I hadn't heard about the Praxis exam until I went in for my fall scheduling in my first spring semester as a college student. My advisor informed me to take the Praxis exams over the summer so that when the time came I wouldn't have to have a deadline on my back when my sophomore year of college came. I would have to have passed the Praxis exams before I could take certain classes for my Fall semester of junior year. I had a little less than a year, so over the summer, I took them.

I passed the English portion of the Praxis exams with flying colors (being an English major really helped with that), but I was four points short for the math portion. I'll be honest, I cried in my car before I drove the thirty-minutes to my house. I cried into a bowl of popcorn and chips that night. I felt like a failure.

But those tears were spilled for absolutely no reason.

Failing one Praxis exam wouldn't make me a terrible teacher when I graduated. I've known my entire life I am the worst at taking tests. Not only do they give me so much stress, but I had anxiety building up a week before the exam. I felt so driven to pass that when I failed I saw myself as an ultimate failure. As college students, we're so hard on ourselves when we fail, and so many people count on us to pass. When we fail, not only do we feel like a failure to ourselves, but a failure to the people who are urging us to pass. The Praxis exam brought that same pressure.

The next day after I failed I emailed my advisor about my worries. She instructed that when school started, I would meet with her immediately to discuss my options. When I met with her, I told her I'm not a test-taking and then I'm not a math person. I also told her timed tests caused my mind to drift off and I sometimes I wasted time. I didn't want to take the test because I hated math, and I went into the exam saying to myself "I'm just not good at math."

Everything I was telling myself was a lie.

In high school, I had done really well in math, and in my first semester of college, I did really good in my education math class. The primary issue was that I had worried so much about the time that I didn't answer the present question correctly based solely on the fact that I was so worried about the next one. I wasn't focusing on the first question because I knew after I answered the first one, I would have another that I would have to do. My mind refused to stay in the present.

I knew I hadn't prepared as much as I should have for my math portion of the Praxis exam because I I felt like it would be everything I learned in high school. It'll surprise you how much algebra, geometry, and arithmetic you have forgotten since freshman year of high school. A lot of the questions on the Praxis I remember seeing and doing in high school and even middle school, but I struggled to retrieve the correct answer for the problem in front of me.

The best advice I can offer is to just go through all the formulas you could have forgotten. There are so many small tricks you can learn to be a better test taker by really studying. Taking thirty minutes to an hour out of your day prior to your Praxis exam can really help. The most important part isn't about the studying, it's but being able to retrieve the correct information to answer a question.

My advisor helped give me helpful tips such as going on Khan Academy and going through the basics of math to keep myself up to date about the basics of math. Watching videos on YouTube about specific math problems I struggle to understand and finding practice problems to do point me in the right direction. The best way to avoid stressing about the time on the right-hand corner of my computer screen is to take as many timed practice tests as I possibly can. Practice, practice, practice is the best way to improve.

A helpful tip is to look up a math problem before bed and write it down. Go to bed and answer that problem the next day. Even had a few questions to answer when you first wake up in the morning. It's the best way to practice certain math problems that you struggle with.

Finding a tutor doesn't help. There are people who understand math really well, and they can also have some math tricks up their sleeve that can benefit not only the Praxis but for your own future classroom. It's best to try out a lot of different ways of studying to find the one that works the best.

However, the most important thing to keep in mind before, during, and after taking the Praxis exam is to know you tried your best. A number will never define how smart you are because the computer scores and the people grading your exam don't know you. Only you know you. If you fail your exam, you are not a failure. If you are taking your Praxis exams again, (like I am taking my second math Praxis exam again) try your hardest, put in the effort, and it will pay off. If you fail, there are always more chances to take.

Good luck on your Praxis exams. They're not as bad as you may think. The majority of your worries are all in your head.