Night before
Charge your laptop fully. Set two alarms, not one. Prep your photo ID and lay it somewhere you will see it in the morning. Lay out a clean shirt so you do not debate outfit choice at 7 am.
Review your mistake journal for 15 to 20 minutes maximum. Do not add new content. Do not take a full mock. Go to bed by 10 pm if your test is in the morning. Avoid alcohol, screen time in the last hour, and late caffeine.
Two hours before
Eat a light, protein-forward meal. Eggs, oatmeal, and a protein shake is a reliable combination. Avoid anything new, heavy, or unfamiliar. Hydrate, but not so much that you will need a bathroom break mid-test.
Use the bathroom at least once in this window. Clear your desk of everything except your allowed materials. Put your phone in another room, not just on silent.
One hour before
Restart your laptop. Close every non-essential application including browsers, Slack, Discord, email, and anything that might push notifications. Disable automatic updates during the test window so your OS does not restart you mid-test.
Set your phone to do not disturb. Tell everyone in your household that the test window is off limits. Lock the door if you can. Put a note on the door if you cannot lock it.
Fifteen minutes before
Open the test platform and confirm that your webcam and microphone work. Many platforms require a compatibility check during check-in. Do this 15 minutes early so you have time to troubleshoot.
Read the intro screen carefully. It contains the exact scoring rules, the penalty policy, and whether flagging is permitted. Do not skip it. The 60 seconds you spend reading the intro is the highest-leverage 60 seconds of the entire test.
At start time
Read the first question twice before committing an answer. The first-question ritual is not a time loss. It is a risk mitigation. Rushing the first question is the most common way to burn momentum for the rest of the test.
Set a private mental clock. On most tests, the per-question budget is between 15 and 60 seconds. Know your number before you start.
During the test
Sip water at natural breaks between questions, not while reading them. Breathe evenly. Do not look away from the screen for more than a second or two at a time on proctored tests.
Check the clock once every 10 questions, not once every question. If you are behind pace at the midpoint, shift into rapid-elimination mode rather than trying to catch up with careful work. Commit guesses on anything that does not yield within 20 seconds.
Immediately after
Log out of the test platform cleanly. Save any confirmation email or completion screen as a screenshot. This matters if there are any technical disputes later.
Step away from the screen for at least an hour. Do not debrief with friends immediately. Do not replay every question in your head. Let your nervous system come down.
Technical failure protocol
If internet drops or the platform crashes mid-test, contact vendor support immediately. Most platforms auto-resume within a minute. Longer outages usually pause the test automatically, but you should document everything with timestamps and screenshots.
If a proctor interrupts you, respond calmly and follow instructions. Resisting is the fastest way to void a passing attempt.