"Do or do not. There is no try."
-- Yoda

talking to thousands of students over the years…  Anxiety cannot take a

student who really knows the material and make him/her completely fail a test. 

I’ve talked to MANY students who, upon receiving an “F” on a test, tell me that

they “really knew the material” but just got nervous and blanked out.  After

doing a little digging, it always turns out that they really didn’t know the

material as well as they thought they did.  This is usually due to the

“familiarity” problem I talked about in the last chapter.  They looked over their

notes and homework and it all looked familiar.  So, they made the assumption

that they knew the stuff.  But, looking at completed problems is very different

than looking at unanswered test questions that aren’t in the same order as

they appear in the book.

          A case of nerves cannot drop an “A” or “B” student (one who really

knows the stuff) down to an “F.”  But, it can drop you a grade or two via a

bunch of little arithmetic mistakes like 2x3=5 and dropping negative signs.

          Hey, if you are taking a math test and you haven’t studied as much as

you should have…     I WANT you to be nervous and sick to your stomach! 

That’s right.  I want tears to start pouring.  I want that test to be such a

miserable experience for you that you study your caboose off for the next one

so you can do your best! 

I want the best for you…

 and I want YOU to want the best

for you too!

 Make your best happen!