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How to Overcome Doubt for the PE Exam
- By Blake
- On August 28, 2017
It’s critical to know how to overcome doubt for the PE exam. Mindset is everything when studying for and taking the PE exam. Without the proper mindset, you’ll struggle with confidence in yourself and your ability to ace the test. That’s where doubt sets in.
When doubt starts to creep in, it can paralyze you, shake your confidence and throw you off your study course. It’s something we all deal with to some degree. Some deal with it better than others, but we all need to learn how to handle it. Keeping the doubt and fear at bay and at the same time staying motivated, encouraged and confident is half the battle to success on the test.
If you’re struggling with excessive test-taking doubt, here are some tried and true strategies that I use and can vouch for that help get this doubt and fear under control.
1: How To Overcome Doubt
At it’s heart, doubt is disbelief in yourself. It’s a fear that you are inadequate or aren’t up to the task.
It is helpful to keep in mind that everyone feels this way. It is completely natural and completely normal. Knowing that everyone experiences the same doubt and feelings of inadequacy doesn’t solve the problem by itself, but it does help. It helps to know that other successful test takers have been exactly where you are and have overcome their doubt to pass the test and become professional engineers.
How did they do it?
It’s silly to doubt yourself when you think about it because you know that if you have gotten this far in your career, you have gone through so many similar experiences before. Think about all the tests you have taken in your past. There have been high stakes before. For example, in high school, you may have had tests that determined where you would go to college, in college you may have had tests that would determine whether or not you have passed a class, made a certain grade, or gotten into a certain program. After college, you have taken and passed the FE exam. The point is that this is not your first rodeo. You have been here before.
It’s always easier to do something AGAIN once you have done it before. Yes, this test may the biggest test you have taken, but it’s not unlike big tests that you have taken in your career. Keeping this reality in mind can help quell the fears and doubts that can creep in your mind and take over if you let it.
Having the discipline to keep those thoughts at bay and to push them out of your mind is key.
Self discipline is one of the greatest life skills you can have and is certainly a key skill to possess for passing the PE exam. The self discipline to study consistently is the number one thing you can do to learn how to overcome doubt for the PE exam. If you are prepared, studied and confident with the material, what real, legitimate reasons do you have to doubt yourself.
Self discipline is also key when it comes to keeping your thoughts under control. Almost no one feels completely prepared for the PE exam. It’s practically impossible to feel comfortable going into the test. It’s actually unnatural to feel totally relaxed and calm going into it. Even after all the preparation in the world, you will almost certainly feel some healthy level of anxiety. This is different than doubt and fear.
Having the self discipline to keep those thoughts from getting out of control and paralyzing you is key!
2: How to Overcome Doubt for the PE Exam – Bottom Line
Now you know how to overcome doubt for the PE exam. It’s a critical skill to develop during your studying process. Work on it daily as you experience these feelings. Keep them at bay. Over time you will develop the ability to control your thoughts and emotions which will help tremendously on test day. If you’re having these negative feelings when you’re studying, you’re sure to have them even worse on test day, so learning to manage them properly now is an important skill to have.
Tame your doubt and you see success.
