Beyond the Content: Mindfulness as a Test Prep Advantage

by Logan Thompson

Overview

Learn how to tackle the hardest parts of taking a test—stress, anxiety, self-doubt—with Beyond the Content. In this quick read, you'll learn how mindfulness can help you conquer the voices in your head, study better, and approach the test with confidence.

Most test prep books, textbooks, and classes miss the mark by only focusing on strategy and content. This essential guide tackles the other half of test prep: mindfulness and your mental performance. Mindfulness is widely embraced in the business and athletic communities as a valuable technique to optimize performance. Author Logan Thompson, an expert in both test prep and mindfulness, says that it's about time the test prep community embraces it as well.

In the book, Thompson explains, "The other half of test prep is the world of fleeting thoughts and emotions, always flickering, always murmuring inside your head, usually going unnoticed and unremarked upon. They shape our perceptions and perspectives. And, they dictate our performance on tests. The other half of test prep is happening all the time, whether we like it or not. Your mental and emotional state, your surfacing memories, your underlying beliefs are always there. The good news is that, by acknowledging the other half of test prep, exploring it, and working with it, you can gain access to your full potential."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506248479
Publisher:	Kaplan Test Prep
Publication date:	08/06/2019
Pages:	126
Sales rank:	626,395
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Logan Thompson scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT®, GRE®, and GMAT®. He has studied and practiced mindfulness since 2008. After earning his MBA from Vanderbilt University, Thompson lived at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, for two and a half years, spending several months in silent mindfulness retreats. He also participated in a two-year mindfulness teacher-training program by Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBME). Thompson holds a Masters of Education in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University and is an adjunct psychology professor. He has spent the past several years teaching both mindfulness and test prep for Manhattan Prep.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Chapter 1 Content and Strategy Are Not Enough, Death, Taxes, and Test Prep 1

The Other Half of Test Prep 2

Root Causes 3

Enhancing the Positive, Reducing the Negative 5

Plinko 5

Bridget 7

Chapter 2 Passengers and the Driver 11

What Is a Passenger? 11

Why Address Passengers? 12

What to Do About Passengers? 13

A Moment of Celebration 31

A Conversation with Chris 33

The Driver 34

Recognizing the Driver 35

Meeting My Driver 36

Passenger Profiles 38

A Conversation with Alessandro 46

Chapter 3 Mindfulness 49

Why Mindfulness? 49

Stimulus and Response 51

Breaking the Chain 52

What Is Mindfulness? 53

Only Six Things 55

Pedestrians 57

A Line of Hooks 58

Perpetual Push and Pull 60

Things Change 63

Check Your Motivation 64

Painted Tiger 65

Dropping the "I" 67

Noticing 68

Passenger Origins 69

Attention 73

Enough Time for Mindfulness? 75

Acceptance 76

Happiness Is Around the Corner 78

Making Mental Grooves 80

Framing 81

Equanimity 84

Fatigue 86

Proud Sponge 90

Chapter 4 Driver's Ed 93

Why Do We Need Driver's Ed? 93

Six Components of Driver's Ed 98

Chapter 5 Putting It All Together 113

Start Wherever You Are 113

Signposts 115