How not to get brain freeze during NAATI CCL Test?

Brain freeze during any type of examination is very common and it’s a situation many of us have already experienced. During a NAATI CCL test, you may go through a multitude of dreaded thoughts such as – what if I fail or what will happen to my Australian Permanent Residency. With these types of thought, you end up panicking and the brain freezing may occur.

Sometimes, even when you prepare well for an exam and all the information seems to be there in your mind, suddenly, everything you have learned seems to evaporate during the test. Occasionally, we recover quickly, however, other times we start losing and cannot perform well in the exam. This is what we can call a “brain freeze” or “exam freeze.” Let’s learn about what we can do in advance to help reduce the chances of brain freeze during NAATI CCL test.

What causes brain freeze?

Most unexplained blackouts are caused by syncope. Many people, including doctors, assume that blackouts during a test are due to epileptic seizures, but much more commonly they are due to syncope – a type of blackout which is caused by a problem in the regulation of blood pressure or sometimes with the heart.

Let’s suppose you are studying for NAATI CCL at home, seated in your comfy bed. In this situation, your mind is at ease and it is not scary and new.

In the examination hall, once you enter a somewhat unpredictable and high-stakes test situation, you get anxious because of the new place. In this situation, your brain is in a non-logical and emotionally driven thinking mode. This moment is particularly common during a response to a clear threat or a highly stressful situation.

During a NAATI CCL test, you may go through a multitude of dreaded thoughts such as – what if I fail, what will happen to my Australian Permanent Residency. With these types of thought, you end up perceiving the test itself as a threat.

In summary, if you perceive the NAATI CCL test as a threat, then your working memory is wiped clean and the recall mechanism is disrupted.

This situation might be more common as NAATI CCL has gone online which means you are in an unfamiliar situation.

Things to do before the test

Here are three things to do when you prepare for NAATI CCL test to avoid this situation:-
1. Study smart:
Studying all of the vocabularies the night before your test is going to overload your brain, wear you out, and worst of all, it won’t stick well to your brain. Instead, studying a few words consistently and repeatedly is better. Repeated, spaced exposure to vocabulary has been proven to stick it better in our minds and improve recall.

2. Practice as much as you can:
As much as possible, force yourself to practice. Do it under timed, test-like conditions. However, it’s easier said than done. To help you with this, we provide NAATI CCL Mock Tests. The test simulates the exact scenario you face in the real test which will give you an edge over the test. The mock test will prepare you beforehand and give you the idea about what exactly happens during the actual test.

3. Sleep enough:
Blanking out and panicking during an exam can stem from various sources, but the primary causes are a lack of adequate sleep (usually from staying up all night trying to cram information into your head) and a lack of confidence.

4. Learn to calm yourself:
Before you go for NAATI CCL test, it’s important to calm yourself. There are a variety of mindfulness and meditation techniques that can be used for this. Prepare your mind to place yourself in a new situation.

5. Be a super note-taker:
You probably cannot remember the words in a dialogue given to you during NAATI CCL test. So, practice shorthand note-taking to improve your efficiency. For excellent note-taking tips and tricks, contact us at (www.cclhub.com.au)

Things to do during the test:
If you have done everything you can to prepare for the exam but you still may have a brain freeze. Here are some tips to help you move forward with confidence.

1. Put your mindfulness practice to work:
Get your mindfulness training to work now – take a few minutes before the test to calm yourself. Don’t think of this as wasted time.

2. Start with notes:
If you feel that your mind is frozen, start with effective note-taking of the dialogues. Once you see that you have something to start with, you will have less of a brain freeze.

Finally, when preparing for NAATI CCL test, try to push yourself in ways that will simulate the actual testing scenario you are preparing for.

For more such tips and tricks, contact us. We also provide you with the test samples with practice questions for 16 languages. You just need to fill a contact form for that. You can also join our demo classes.
We will guide you throughout the journey to make you confident and score more in the NAATI Exam.