Coping with Exam Noise

In most places, when you do an exam, there is complete silence in the exam room. Unfortunately, this isn't the case with TOEFL exams. Unfortunately, in TOEFL exams, this doesn’t happen. TOEFL exam rooms are noisy places and you need to learn how to cope with the noise. 

If you’re easily distracted, if you’re nervous, and if you’ve been practicing in total silence, then it’s likely that the background noise is going to disturb you, and negatively affect your performance.

Let's be clear that when we're talking about noise, we're not just talking about background whispers, we're talking about major disruptions that can be incredibly upsetting unless you're prepared for them.

Here are some of the things my students have told me that they've experienced in TOEFL exams.

🔵 People arriving late and creating disruption while they take their places.
🔵 Candidates reading the instructions for each section out loud. Very loudly.
🔵 Someone next to them having to change computers in the middle of the listening section.
🔵 Candidates clicking their fingers and shouting "Hi, hi" to request more paper.
🔵 Doors banging as candidates enter and exit.
🔵 Administrators giving instructions to individual candidates.
🔵 EVERYONE speaking loudly during the speaking section.

Some students develop strategies for coping with exam noise by arriving early or late for the exam. That can work, but these strategies rely on other people’s actions. 

With something as important as a TOEFL exam, I think you should develop strategies that you are completely in control of; strategies that rely on YOUR actions.

I recommend that you learn to create your own bubble in the exam room so that you become immune to any noise and disturbance. 

Two strategies you can use are:

1. Learn how to focus so you won’t be distracted.
➡️ This takes practice but it’s very effective.

2. Study in a place that isn’t completely silent.
➡️This is probably NOT how you’ve been advised to study for exams, but TOEFL is different. You have to train yourself to be able to cope with the noise that you know you are going to experience.
➡️You could go to the library, a cafe, any room where other people are present, or even turn on the radio or TV quietly so that you have background noise.

Both these strategies will help you to create your own exam bubble by being in control of your actions.