Testing Tips: Advice from an Autistic Grad Student

I was a sophomore in high school when I got my first failing grade on a test. It was for Spanish two, and my comprehension of the subject was slightly above that of my peers, but we had been given a page-long story (with at least four different conjugations) to translate in 90 minutes. In a classroom full of stressed students, all either shuffling pages, sniffling, or similarly having a hard time, I spent a good amount of that test on the verge of tears. My 62% was slightly above the class average, with one of my friends getting the highest grade at 82%, but it ended up being struck from the gradebook because we’d all failed so spectacularly, and the test didn’t accurately reflect our knowledge of course concepts, given that most people weren’t able to finish in the given time.

That being said, testing can be really stressful, especially when it goes differently than what you’d expect. This is doubly true for me as an autistic person and compulsive overachiever, so I’ve picked up a couple strategies over the years, all of which were greatly improved by my access to disability accommodations after my autism diagnosis midway through college.

At first, I felt kinda bad about using my accommodations when sometimes I could make it all the way through without extra time, but I’ve really come to appreciate that safety net, especially when everyone is struggling on a time-limit, autism notwithstanding, or when somebody in the back row is clearing their throat every thirty seconds, or when I need to spend ten minutes talking myself down from an anxiety spiral. Taking my exams in the same place, with the same quiet environment, and with the needed time, has made a huge difference in my testing anxiety, even if I’ve outwardly been able to perform well enough in the past to earn valedictorian in high school. Accommodations exist for a reason, and rather than being an extra leg up, it gives me the best environment to show what I already know, instead of surviving on a combination of anxiety, luck, and the process of elimination.

Now that I’m in grad school, I’ve been taking tests for the better part of my life, so here is some advice on how to get through the ordeal of testing, from one autistic person to the next.

Preparation: Before an exam

1. Schedule Exams with Disability Services - Do this two-ish weeks before an exam, if not sooner, so you know testing will take place at the needed time with the proper accommodations (can involve a conversation with professors to make sure extra time is in the testing website). Testing accommodations are actually one of the most helpful things that have come out of getting my official diagnosis, so if you’re able to get them, they’re worth it. If you’re worried about ‘taking advantage’ or ‘not really needing them,’ then see the above paragraph.
2. Sleeping vs. Studying - The brain needs time to process information before it’s solidified, so all-nighters right before an exam are not worth it. On rare occasions, I’ll stay up until midnight studying, go to bed, and wake up at 6 am to continue studying because for me, most things after midnight aren’t going to stick, and I’ll have much better luck coming back to it later. Different people have different internal schedules, but figuring mine out has helped me to maximize the efficiency of my studying, and get a couple hours of sleep in there too.
3. Don’t cram in the last hour before a test - At this point, most things you try to cram in aren’t going to have time to stick, and the weight of everything you don’t know is just going to add to pre-test anxiety. Better to spend this time getting your mind ready to release the info you’ve already learned than trying to cram more in there.
4. Bodily Needs - Eat a good meal before a test, not too much and not too little; This helps to minimize distraction from being hungry, or running out of energy halfway through. Use the bathroom too!
5. Do something relaxing right beforehand - Go on a walk, watch a fun video, listen to music, etc. Walking can be especially helpful if you have a hard time sitting still for a two hour test, and getting some time to destress helps you to enter a test with a good mindset, rather than needing to spend the first five minutes of a test calming down.
6. Bring a snack/gum/drink to mentally reset during the exam - This can be a sensory strategy, or just something to wake myself up if the exam keeps dragging on. My current favorite is cinnamon altoids, since they’re very strongly flavored without making me feel like I’ve just brushed my teeth, but gum or sour candies work well too. For a drink, I usually pick water or tea; energy drinks can add to anxiety, and even if it keeps you awake, that won’t be too useful if you’re vibrating out of your chair too much to focus. Of course, if caffeine calms you down, some might be helpful but don’t overdo it. Also, if the testing room is too warm, having a cool water bottle can be super helpful for improving focus.
7. Arrive Early -  Try to arrive to the testing area 10 minutes or so before the test starts, so you’re not rushed but not so long that you’re just building anticipation. Parking always takes longer than you think it will, especially on test days.
8. Routine - It can be helpful to focus on things that remain the same even when tests get unpredictable. Especially for autistic people, having this routine to hold on to can be the difference between success and failure. For example, I like to sit in the same seat in the testing center at my school when possible, and this really helps when it comes to feeling prepared. I used to get really anxious when arriving at my final exams because, occasionally, they’d put some people in an auxiliary testing room with different acoustics, an in-person proctor instead of a camera, and an entirely different set-up. This didn’t work for me, to the point that I moved back to the other testing room after wasting a good ten minutes of my testing time feeling so anxious about it, and I worried constantly about it after that exam. Eventually, I brought it up with my Disability Services advisor, and was able to get a testing accommodation to always be put in the main testing room, which really helped. This is related to my next point:
9. Advocate for your needs - If there’s something in your testing environment that hurts your performance on a test, there’s usually an easy way to work around it, and it might take a simple conversation to get it fixed. Some things are more complicated, but if something is a big deal to you, especially if it doesn’t seem to be affecting your classmates at all, that could be a disability thing, which could mean there’s an accommodation to help.
10. Self-talk - For me, it’s helpful to say, “I’ve done what I can, and what I’ve done is either enough or it isn’t, and that’s something I’m prepared to accept. I may be stressed now, but in two hours, I’ll be done.” This might be a little fatalistic for some people, but for me, I know that I care about my grades and my success, but not at the cost of my mental health, and if I didn’t study enough because I was too busy, stressed, overwhelmed, or hyperfocused on the wrong thing, I try my best anyways. Regretting how I spent my time isn’t going to improve my grade on a test, so I try my best to leave that at the door.

During the Test:

1. Take a deep breath and relax your shoulders - Repeat as needed when you feel yourself tensing up. Sometimes I’ll get into a test and realize that I totally underestimated what the test would be like, and I’ll need a good 5-10 minutes to reset, but that’s okay. It’s what I have my accommodations for. I give my brain the time it needs to reset and then I’ll start.
2. Organization - Make sure you have everything you need beforehand (notes, extra paper, pen/pencil, setting up moodle). Sometimes this means making a list and making sure you have everything on-hand when you get to the testing room.
3. Mneumonics - If you have any memorization techniques you’ve learned to keep information in your brain until now, write them down!!! The minute the test starts, use a piece of scratch paper or the front of the test and write down the stuff you remember (especially if you might forget). If you can’t remember everything, then it’s easy to come back to these later, and you’ll be less worried about forgetting them in the meantime.
4. Order of Operations - Start with easy questions (usually at the beginning of the test) while your brain is still gearing up, then get the hardest ones out of the way (usually at the end of the test), and then do the ones in the middle last. This is especially helpful when the questions worth more points are at the end, so they get done without needing to worry about a time-crunch. This means that you end up scrolling past the heavier questions an extra time before turning it in, even if you don’t have time to review the whole test, which is helpful too.
5. Sensory Strategies - For me, this can be earplugs, blue light glasses, etc. I’ve even been able to use my own computer for tests because the standard ones at my school’s testing center don’t have a brightness adjustment option, but all of these help me to focus on the test instead of eighty different things happening in my environment.
6. Fidget toys - I usually have at least one fidget toy on my person at any given time, and this is doubly true for tests. Quiet ones can be ideal for tests, and I generally prefer those that either require a lot of pressure, like a stress ball, or one with a texture of some kind, like the bumpy side of my ten-sided fidget cube, for when I’m anticipating feeling stressed. These ones are enough to distract me from my anxiety until it lessens without being distracting to my peers, especially in a limited distraction testing room.
7. Review questions/answers - If I have the brain power left over at the end of the test, going over the questions again can be pretty helpful, at least for the ones worth more points, just to make sure that I’ve answered each part of the question. Again, if I don’t, then I accept that I’ve done what I have the energy for, and I leave the test at the door on my way out.

After the Test:

1. Have something to look forward to - You just finished a test! This took a lot of mental and physical work. Sometimes it can be hard to move on from that, but I’ve found that a treat, spending time with friends, or even just a well-deserved nap can be a really helpful break afterwards.
2. Try not to think about the test too much - If you need to check the multiple choice parts of the exam, then you can, but this can be a good time to repeat that affirmation from the beginning. You’ve done what you could without mentally burning out (hopefully), and either that was enough or it wasn’t.
3. Communication with professors - I am not a mind-reader, and as an autistic person, my brain can fill in the gaps differently than other people’s, so sometimes I’ll interpret an exam question differently than what a professor intended. For this reason, it can be really helpful to meet up with professors after an exam to explain these differences in understanding and get clarification. Sometimes I’ve gotten points back, sometimes not, but maybe next time they write a test, the wording will be a little more clear.

Anyways, that’s most of my advice for now! Other things come in time, and depend on the test and the individual taking the test. If there’s any last bit of information to take out of this: my body and brain have needs, and when I meet these needs, I’m in a better place to manage the task ahead of me. If you have any other useful tips, feel free to share them! Thanks for reading!