TAKING EXAMINATIONS If you have studied carefully and really know well what you have studied, then you are not likely to get rattled on an exam. Treat it like a game; be concerned about it ahead of time but do not worry about it, You’ll worry less if you consciously act not worried. The morning of the exam get up early enough so that you can take an extra long shower (as though, you hadn’t a care in the world; after breakfast walk slowly to the exam (as though you were sure it would be simple); and if you arrive early, read the funny paper. When the door is opened, get the exam and walk calmly to your seat. Read the directions carefully (you may be of offered a choice of questions, in which case there would be no point in doing them all). Some students recommend reading the entire exam first so that your subconscious mind may start to work on all the problems or so that you may start with the ones you know best. Others prefer to start at once with the first question. (Even if you do not do the questions in order, it is wise to put them in the proper sequence in your bluebook, since often the first three questions will be read by one reader, the second three by another, etc.) In any case, attack each question with an air of confidence (not cockiness). Do your best; keep the rest of the exam and everything else out of your conscious mind and concentrate on the problem on which you are working. Read the questions carefully: you don’t get credit for getting the right answer to a wrongly read problem or for a part you didn’t do because you overlooked it in the rush. Take it easy and don’t start using your pencil until you have thought out just how to begin. A common practice of physics professors is to gauge the time to allot to a problem by giving the students five times as long as it takes another professor to get the right answer. This means that it is mechanically possible for a student to make a perfect score by spending forty minutes thinking what to write and only ten minutes writing during a fifty-minute exam. Don’t rush; haste is likely to induce slipshod thinking. Work at a convenient pace but without wasting time. Don’t try to read a complicated or unnatural meaning into a simple question. If it is really vague, then ask the instructor what was intended (be diplomatic). In essay questions or derivations, write legibly. The readers give credit only for what they can read and they do not spend much time trying to decipher chicken tracks or the faint marks made with very hard pencils. Do not cramp your thinking by cramping your writing. Use plenty of space (paper is cheap) and write clearly, preferably in ink if you are used to writing with a pen. Think about the questions; don’t worry about how you are doing. As one student says, “Heaven and Earth won’t come down if you miss a problem.” Don’t spend too long on any one question. Don’t hurry to do a lot of arithmetic until you are sure it is necessary (frequently things will cancel out if you give them a chance). Don’t work on scratch paper (you are certain not to get points for it). Do everything in an orderly fashion in your bluebook. Don’t take time to erase anything but rather cross it out neatly if it is wrong. Perhaps it is right after all, and you will get partial credit if you leave it in. (Decide which to do.) You are likely to get more partial credit for an incomplete answer if the arrangement of the material you do have is neat and orderly. Underline or box your final answers and remember to put down the units, Ten minutes before the examination is over, take about one minute to check your work to make sure you have made no major blunder (such as leaving out an easy question) and to plan how you can use the remaining few minutes to the best advantage. After the exam papers have been returned to you, be sure to clear up the points you missed: there is no need to lose credit on the final exam for the same mistakes. Furthermore, if you clear up weak points, it improves the solidarity of your foundation so that later material is learned more easily
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 18:12:23 +0000
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