The last two weeks

Stop learning. Start tapering.

2 min read

Two weeks out, the content you know is the content you'll have. New material learned now is unreliable under pressure, and the effort is better spent making what you already know automatic.

Week 1 of 2

  • One full timed practice test, at the real start time, in real conditions. This is your last measurement.
  • Review it properly (see How to review a practice test).
  • Re-do the error log — all of it. Every question in there, cold.
  • Drill your two weakest domains only. Not everything. Two.
  • Confirm the logistics: test centre, ID, arrival time, what device you're using.

Week 2 of 2

  • No full tests. One module at a time, timed, maybe three or four across the week — enough to keep the pacing reflex, not enough to exhaust you.
  • Re-read your own error-log taxonomy. The five or six recurring causes. That list, read the night before, is worth more than any content review.
  • Skim the conventions rules — boundaries, verbs, modifiers. They're the most automatable and the most perishable.
  • Fix your sleep schedule now, not the night before. Two nights of good sleep before the test beat one.

The last 48 hours

  • No new questions. Nothing you learn on Friday will be there on Saturday, and a hard question that goes badly two days out does real damage to how you'll approach the real thing.
  • Prepare the physical things: admission ticket, photo ID, charged device, charger, pencil and scratch paper if the centre allows, a snack and water for the break.
  • Know the route and the time. Leave early enough that traffic is not a variable.
  • Sleep.

Test morning

  • Eat something with protein in it. The test is 2h14m and the break is 10 minutes.
  • Get there early enough to be bored.
  • The first three questions of Module 1 will feel strange. They always do. That is not information about how the test is going — it's the first three questions of any test. Answer them and keep going.

During the test

  • Module 1 gets your most careful work (see Two modules, one gate).
  • Leftover time in Module 1 goes back into checking Module 1.
  • Nothing blank, ever.
  • Between sections, on the break: stand up, drink water, don't discuss questions with anyone.

Afterwards

You'll walk out convinced you did badly. Nearly everyone does; the questions you remember are the hard ones, which is a biased sample. Wait for the score.

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