TITLE: How should I approach taking math tests?
QUESTION [32 upvotes]: I always do bad on all my math tests yet I do great on projects and homework. Also I like doing research. For exams that have proof based questions I just freeze up under pressure. I just can't do things well in a timed environment. So what are some good strategies for taking math tests?

REPLY [6 votes]: Your post has moved me to tears,Terry. It's reminded me of my own problems and as someone who's lived through this, I feel compelled to speak.I hope the others will forgive me for waxing personal on this,but it's a very painful issue for me.It may all be irrelevant as you may not have this problem as I did. But I wish someone had shared this with me at the beginning of my career.
I was also an extremely talented undergraduate-I was once an honors student in a double major of mathematics and biochemistry. I had the chops for graduate school at Harvard or Yale if I could have gotten my act together. My career was hampered and my grades very negatively affected by having the same problem with exams,Terry. Unfortunately,it was greatly amplified by being at the center of my father's decade long battle with cancer. I hope you don't take offense-but it's important to know whether or not this is just butterflies or a real underlying condition. If the former,then there's some good advice above and I'm sure you'll get more on here.Practicing test conditions is a particularly useful strategy. 
But if it's the latter,I STRONGLY suggest you seek medical consultation.It may end your career otherwise.Exam performance is the single most critical determinant of whether or not you will advance in the academic world or become the joke of the department that the chairman points out to the new honor students as a cautionary tale.
Trust me. I was also someone who was better then nearly everyone else-until test time.I made it a graduate student-but it wasn't in anywhere near a top program and my less-then-stellar grades will haunt my career until I make a substantially significant publication. 
Which means I may never make it as mathematician of any distinction. 
I swore I'd do all I could to make sure any other talented student with this problem doesn't make the same mistake I did,ignoring it and hoping it goes away. It doesn't. Don't make the same mistakes I did. It may be more serious then simple butterflies-in which case,none of the techniques suggested here will have much effect. They may have methods that may be able to help you. I don't know if you have access to such medical treatments,but if you do,get yourself checked out. 
I hope it's not. I really do. Good luck.