Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with exams

Ladder operators refer to some sort of blue-collared workers, right?

Hakaisha — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:40:50 -0800

Help me pass a subject I hate. I'm an undergrad in a chemistry program.

My grades are...mostly solid, if not spectacular; bombed my third year (failed two courses by like 2%, C'ed the rest) from burning out, but otherwise okay. Took a year off to work in my field, came back, much more centered.

Overall, I don't think my study habits are too bad. That being said, from a combination of misinformation by someone I used to trust/respect and just general inadequacy in the subject, I'm still struggling badly in my quantum mechanics course. It's really scaring me.

Mathematics really isn't my forte, and frankly, quantum makes my head spin. Still, I understand the principle of just buckling down and do the damn studying anyway, but my semester is extremely short on time. I have another course I'm taking at the same time (physical chem, which I also failed...but upon applying myself, I am breezing through the course, so it's not like I'm not trying this semester), as well as two labs. The regular one is time consuming but not so bad, but the other one is a directed studies that takes about 5x more time/effort than my ex-friend/ex-supervising-grad student told me it would. The exact details of the blowout isn't really relevant...the only part that is relevant is that due to said blowout, my project got switched halfway through the term, so I'm literally scrambling to make enough progress so I have something to do my oral defense + paper on. Hence, spending a rather ridiculous amount of time in the lab (I've slept at school, worked until half-past midnight, etc).

I don't have high aspirations for quantum; I just need to pass the course as it's required for my degree. I failed the midterm (but 54% of the class did, and the average was 49%, so I'm not alone...we're allowed the option of putting 100% of the grade on our final, but the professor won't scale), and I'm terrified for the final because I at least thought I understood the material for the midterm and still failed the exam, whereas the material being taught now can be Greek for all I'm understanding of it. P-chem is being ignored currently as I'm still solidly on track for that one, but between the two other labs and living rather far from school, by the end of the day when I get home all I want to do is sleep. Even if I do make myself stay up, writing lab reports is about the extent of my brain power; my eyes just glaze over trying to study quantum and I end up going "so what did I just spend 4 hours reading?"

I've asked the prof for tutors; he just said I should do more practice problems (I should) and see him in his office more (I also should). On principle, I know I can pass this course if I really just buckle down and practice the 279235479012389 recommended study questions...but time is a rare commodity and I don't have the 36 hours in one day I really, really need.

I don't study in groups well (we always just end up talking; I prefer to study on my own), and I can't really do the 'study in 10 minute chunks' thing either. If I work, I really need a quiet area and 3 solid hours to just plow through it. Coming back home at midnight after leaving the house at 9:30, and with eyes glazing over, however, is really not conductive to plowing through quantum mechanics.

I admit I can procrastinate, but no more than the average student (and nowadays, after I got my head straight after my year off, probably less...I came home on a Friday night, ate dinner, sat down and started working on a lab report straight until 6 am Saturday morning). Fear is a great motivator, since I'm not 'allowed' to retake a course more than once unless with special permission from the Dean. I just need more time...and I don't have more time. I make do on about 3-5 hours of sleep a night on average, sometimes broken up into powernaps (and then naps on my very long bus ride to/from school). I don't know what else to do.

So...how do I generate enough time out of the same 24 h/d to enable me to study this dreaded subject effectively? I feel like I'm trying to wring water from a stone here. This term is burning me out again, although I generally like my major (at least enough to want to finish the damn degree).

For what it's worth, I'm writing this in piecemeal while waiting for a reaction to finish, so it's not like I'm wasting potential study time here. Again, can't do the '10 minute bite-sized studying', although I wish I could.

(Given that it's about two weeks until end of term, and less than a full month until finals, I don't think dropping out is possible and/or will go over too well, even if I talk to an advisor.)

I can remember how to do this question...after I remember how to breathe.

Hakaisha — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:43:42 -0800

Help me stop freaking out during my exams. I'm an undergrad in a chemistry program. I think my woes is probably shared by quite a few people out there.

To put it plainly: I have exam anxiety. Bad exam anxiety. I took time off of school to do work experience related to my program; coming back to exams and reports ad infinitum is not doing much for my nerves, which were used to overtime and work stress but also the ability to leave stressors at work instead of taking them home with me (ie. homework).

I've always been the anxious type, but my nerves go into overdrive during exams. My hands were literally shaking when I was writing my midterms last week, even for a course I knew pretty well; I had to keep talking to myself that "calm down, I know this shit, it's just blah blah..." to keep myself from going into full out panic mode. A friend who had sat beside me remarked to me after the exam that "geez, you were loud, I had to divert part of my focus to tuning you out" (note: I'm not loud enough to make anyone suspect I'm cheating; it's more just background mutterings that's annoying but not intelligible).

I just got back a midterm that I had spectacularly failed; it doesn't make me feel much better that 54% of the rather large class failed with me. It's my second time taking the course (failed it once previously during a very bad year); I need this course (quantum, which I've always hated) for my degree, and the thought of me not passing it is...rather terrifying. But when I look at the midterm, there are several parts I knew perfectly well how to do...just that in my nervousness I completely forgot basic rules of differentiation and looked like someone who never even took Calculus 12. I'm not great at the course and probably will never be, but at the very least, even if I won't ace it, I want to at least pass it. And blanking out over math I know how to do is not gonna do my grades any favours, for quantum or otherwise. (It perhaps doesn't help that I'm in a hellaciously stressful term and regularly spending 18 hours a day or so at school, out of necessity.)

So, Mefites: what do I do? Are there calming vitamins to take? Meditation? Something to at least get me through exam times? (Note: I'm not exactly into the drugs scene, so I don't think suggestions of pot will help me here.)

Also: I know the stuff about getting a good meal and a good night's sleep before the exam, and, well, studying to begin with. Can't say I can promise on the sleep bit (my anxiety for the quantum midterm kept me from getting a good night's rest...I'm thinking of dosing myself with Benadryl come finals), but I'm pretty good about the rest.

Feel free to ask for more details if necessary.

Failed to get a PhD, now what?

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:37:44 -0800

I just failed my PhD quals for the second time and they're going to kick me out of the program. Now what? To make a long story as short as I can, I work in an engineering field (aerospace) only vaguely related to my undergraduate and master's degrees. That said, I'm really good at it. To achieve a long-term career goal I need a Ph.D. In fact, virtually every every action I've taken for the past 15 years has been with that goal in mind. Those actions would include the city I live in, my current job, job assignments, hobbies and outside skills learned, and so on. So, several years ago, I applied to and was accepted into a Ph.D. program in aerospace engineering. I've taken over a year of unpaid leave from work, living off savings, to attend classes and do work associated with getting the degree. It has been a mighty struggle, not the lease of which is that I came into a field without the formal training (in this particularly subject) of my fellow engineering students. I even spent less time with my dying father than I could have in order to prepare for exams. Despite all that, I did well in my classes and made almost exclusively straight A's.

Well, I just found out that I failed the qualifying exams for the second time and they're not going to let me continue in the program. As you can imagine I'm pretty gutted. It's hard not to feel enraged at a system in which a person who aces his coursework is, statistically, very likely to fail exams where the only passing criteria appears to be "You pass if we think you passed." So yes, on one hand I'm clearly some sort of idiot unable to pass these exams, but on the other hand I'm convinced that the system is set up to screw over the maximum number of people possible. Last year, I happen to know, only one person passed out of a half a dozen or so people taking the exams in my specialization. And, it's hard to come to terms with having wasted years of my life and enough opportunity cost to buy a small house. And, while I always knew it was a possibility, I'm now about to turn 40 year old with the career goals I've spent every waking moment trying to achieve for the past 15 years having now gone virtually out of reach. There are secondary reasons for getting the degree, but the big one is now probably out of reach.

At this point, I think I may have the following options. I could try to salvage an MS but that may be impossible since I've now returned to work, the university is in a different city, and I'd probably have to take more classes to meet the minimum coursework hours requirement. Or, there is a very small chance I could to a different department, such as mechanical engineering, that is a little bit less crazy. I know of at least one student in my situation who has done that. Or, I could try to get into a different university, one where I live, and start a new Ph.D. program. Or, of course, I could just say "screw it" and walk away.

Making this more painful is the realization, with the recent death of my father, that life is indeed short. There's a lot of stuff I'm interested in doing that have nothing to do with that Ph.D. or my current career and I've been sacrificing all of it with my higher goal in mind. I've been a student, of one sort or another, for basically my entire life and every time go out to socialize in the evenings ("Sorry, I've got to study."), or have fun on the weekends ("Sorry, I've got to study."), or even talk about sitting on the couch and watching television ("Sorry, I've got to student.") it just kills me. I feel like I'm 40 years old with no life because I've been struggling so hard on this one goal for so long. So it's tempting, while I've still got some time and youthful energy, to just change course and career and do something else that might enable me to "have a life," as they say. So, at least at the moment, you can imagine that the idea of spending ANOTHER four or five years in a different Ph.D. program is just really painful.

Oh, did I mention that (against all logic) I feel as if I've let down my (deceased) father, who really believed in me?

Some advice or personal stories from anybody who's been in a similar situation would be really appreciated.

Help me encourage a great future doctor not to lose faith in herself.

dorothy humbird — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:59:09 -0800

I'm out of fresh encouraging perspectives, and the stakes are higher than ever. Please help me figure out how to best be a supportive friend in the 11th hour of my pal's struggles with studying for the med school boards. So, my friend is a very intelligent and principled person, and has for most of her education been in honors classes and in other ways recognized for her commitment to learning and knowledge. She also happens to be one of the most caring people I know, and is absolutely one of my best friends. She is the sort of person who is keenly sensitive to the human element of any problem or situation, and for this reason I think she would be an invaluable addition to the field of medicine, which can sometimes be heavily populated by self-absorbed jerks and/or people who are only in it for the money.

But, as far as I can tell, she is burned out in the extreme from years of studying and studying, not to mention her family worries and expectations (she is a 1st gen daughter of immigrants from a country with pretty conservative expectations for offspring, and despite somewhat Westernized viewpoints on the part of her parents, there are still major friction issues). She has struggled this entire year, her second in med school, with getting herself to buckle down and study, and has been discouraged time and again even when she did with grades that fell below the median of her class - but she's scraped by. And now, with classes over so the students can completely focus on studying 10+ hours a day to pass the board exams, she is really and truly putting in the effort, only to keep getting dismal results on her practice tests for the boards.

She's discouraged. I'm discouraged for her. She's been seeing a counselor, but sometimes sabotages herself even there by not revealing the extent of her struggles, or not doing the tasks that the counselor suggests for her. It takes so much effort for her to just focus on studying these massive tomes of knowledge that she somehow has to ingest and immolate into her very core that when she doesn't make progress, she loses almost all faith in herself. She has mentioned to me that her brother, who also attended med school and is now in residency, did poorly in the books section too, but excelled once he was in a more hands-on environment doing rotations. So, I've been encouraging her to look ahead to that -- but the problem that she and I both obviously can't ignore is that she has to PASS the boards to get there.

I'm out of supportive words and phrases. Everything I can think to say, I've already said: just hang in there; quit beating yourself up; I BELIEVE IN YOU - YOU CAN DO THIS, BUT YOU NEED TO BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT; it's okay to take more time (she is now pushing back the beginning of her 3rd year to give herself more time to study because her practice test results haven't been enough to pass), you are smart! you are intelligent! you of all people should be a doctor because you actually care about human beings!

I've said it all already, and I can't imagine that repeating this to her is any help at this stage.

I need insight into this experience; who out there in MetaFilter has had similar struggles in professional schools - med school, law school, anything else similarly demanding? I am meeting to have coffee with her this evening, and I just want to give her the most encouraging pep talk I can feasibly manage without personal experience of what she is going through. It would crush me to see her defeated by this, and if there is anything I can say or remind her of to help her avoid that, I want it in my bag of resources. Help me help her.

Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:44:31 -0800

How can I change my habits? I'm a graduate student, and I am taking my PhD qualifying examinations within the next year. I am down to the wire and I need to change my habits, and they are very, very bad. Studying for the examinations will require reading a few hundred books ("reading" often means skimming, and a few months is usually all the time we have to prepare). I have made it this far, in a top ten program, by doing very very little work and playing hard to my intellectual strengths. I have excelled in the program, and no one knows the extent of my poor habits, so I can't exactly fess up. I can count on one hand the number of assigned books I have actually read. But my degree work is really important to me (yes, I promise, really), and my success in it is, too. I want to change.

The problems that have led me here are several:

1. Plain old laziness and procrastination. Because I've been able--for YEARS--to get away with doing very little and absorbing a lot, I've continued to do so. I have a set of skills that allows me to get away with this. I know hitting bottom is sometimes how people turn it around, but it hasn't happened yet, and I don't want it to. Even if I intend to do what I'm supposed to, I fuck around and don't--and get through it anyway. I am great at resolving to do things, much less so at actually doing them. And I'm great at picking a new "system" to adopt and then abandoning it. I also produce pretty good work at the last minute.

2. Depression. I have been depressed for many years, probably a combination of dysthymia and major depression. Yes, I am in treatment with a therapist and on medication. Sometimes it doesn't work. So the number of days I lose to fucking around is matched by the number I lose to being depressed.

3. Trauma. I have not had an easy time of it. In my first year of graduate school, my only living parent died. I was the executor of that parent's estate, many states away. I am still grieving, and this, too, seriously disrupted my schoolwork. Yes, I had (have) a grief counselor in addition to the therapist.

So it's not just sheer laziness. If it were, I would deserve every "get your shit together" in the world. And I know, of course, that I'd have been fired from a "real" job long ago. But that alone isn't enough.

I already know that paying serious attention to my physical well-being will be a huge help--that I need an exercise routine, a more careful diet--as will continuing with my mental-health work (therapy, medication, alternative healing). How can I make that routine work?

And really, how can I get serious about my work? How do you serial procrastinators stop yourselves in the act? How do you make a routine stick when you've been averse to one for so long? I want things to change, but sometimes it's a huge uphill climb to change them.

Throwaway email: sureillbendover@gmail.com. Please, please, please, I promise you I have done all the berating and tough love talk you feel the need to do right now. Solution-oriented advice most welcome.

How do I physically write faster?

ajp — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:38:57 -0800

How do I physically write faster? Does anyone have any tips for how to physically write faster? So far I've been advised to try using soft pencils on good paper, but I'd be interested in other suggestions. I'd also like to reduce my chances of developing tendon irritation from all the repetitive movement of writing. I sit exams regularly, and need to write continuously and legibly for between 1 and 2 hours. This is currently killing my thumb.

I've trawled the net of course, but all my search terms seem to hit pages more targetted at approaches to creative writing.

* Are there any guidelines for how to write clearly and avoid strain injury?

* What is the perfect writing implement, given the requirements of speed and pain-avoidance? Oh, and relatively low cost :-)

* Hand-writing guides. Is there an optimum style? I suspect that "cursive" or "Nelson" handwriting is best. Are there any figures to back this up? I'm willing to put in the time required to adapt my writing style if it will pay off.

Things I am not concerned about:

* Creativity, style, etc. This is about the physical aspects of writing, not the cerebral.

* Being more concise in my essay responses. Good advice, but already taken. I'm aiming for maximum output with minimal physical effort.

* Shorthand. The writing has to be easily and clearly comprehensible by any English speaker.

Other salient points:

* I'm considering asking for extra time in the exams so I can minimise the pain.

* Exams have to be written in ink, and anything that smudges easily is likely to be out. I'd like to try a fountain pen, since I believe the nib would morph with age to complement my writing style; but I think the smudge factor rules them out.

* Anecdote is great, evidence is better!

Much obliged.

Comps

chrisalbon — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 09:32:10 -0800

I have comprehensive exams in 230 days. Any studying advice? In 230 days I am taking my comprehensive exams for my political science PhD program. These tests determine whether I continue on to write my dissertation or (if I fail twice) get removed from the PhD program.

Briefly, the exam is in two parts. First, I receive a set of questions on international relations and have to write a 50+ page answer in 48 hours. Second, a week later I receive a set of questions on quantitative research methodology (game theory, statistics, formal modeling design, etc...) and I have to write an answer in 48 hours. The entire test is written, no oral examinations. In plain English, the first exam tests my knowledge of other people's research, the second exam tests my knowledge of programming and mathematics.

I have classes and work for the next 130 days, then 100 days of summer with no classes or work. I have enough money saved so that I do not need to earn an income over the summer. I do not thrive on stress (like some people) and therefore want to start studying now rather than wait until the end.

I know many of the Hivemind have taken comprehensive exams or other similarly large tests (USMLE for example).

1. How should I go about studying systematically?
2. Do you have any tips regarding studying for large tests?
3. I have to use R (a programming language) for the statistics, how can I go about learning R well?
4. How should I organize my notes?
5. Any general advice?

Thanks so much for any replies!

How to write law school exam answers?

Navelgazer — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:24:11 -0800

How do I adjust my writing style to fit law school exams? I've been writing my whole life, and for all my schooling been universally praised for it. It got me to the top of classes I had no business being at the top of, and even got me some writing jobs in film and television, based on my samples.

I know I can write, but having just received my grades from the first semester of 1L year, it turns out that I cannot write AT ALL for these sorts of exams. The problem (problems?) is that all of my professors make a point of downplaying the importance of their exams (which are of course the entirety of our grades) and give us very little guidance as to what they're looking for in terms of either substance or style.

My writing style is as such (when I really mean it, I mean):

Economy of language; preference for word choices with strong connotations.
Dry humor; clear to those with an understanding of the subject, but never meant to distract from the issue being discussed.
VERY structuralist; as in, I can't just ramble on and get all thoughts out of my head without figuring how they all interconnect.

As a related question, if anybody knows of a worthwhile law school tutoring service in the D.C. area, I need it badly now, I fear.

Thanks.

Who will assess me?

greytape — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 05:51:09 -0800

Looking to take some AS-levels as an external candidate in the UK. Help! At the moment I'm studying independently, not affiliated with any course or college, but I can't seem to find anywhere that will let me take exams as an external candidate. I want to take AS-levels in maths and french at the end of the year, it's not that I'm opposed to evening courses, they're just aren't any in my area!
I've rung my LEA, the exam board and a couple of local colleges, none of which have been able to help me. Edexcel recommended Pearson Vue, but they seem more like an organisation specialising in professional qualifications. Perhaps an intensive revision course would offer the exam at the end of it?

Any Mefites faced this dilemma themselves?

Where can I find literate Francophones to converse with?

PuGZ — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 01:13:48 -0800

I have an exam coming up (in a matter of hours, in fact) in French. I'm in highschool and plan on continuing French well into university. Where can I find literate and well-spoken French-speakers that I can talk to? Failing that, where can I find interactive resources/web-quizzes to test my knowledge of French grammar?

Eye test drunkenness

mr_crash_davis — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 12:10:54 -0800

Would it skew the results of an eye exam to show up drunk?

Mid-term exam filter - help!

Space Kitty — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 13:00:38 -0800

Returning college student ISO mid-term exam study help. I'm in college after a 20-year hiatus from school. Mid-terms are looming, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to study - specifically for an 'all essay question' exam. In high school, I did well without really trying, but I can't skate by like that anymore.

It will be a closed book, closed note, 'pick two of three essay questions' type test. We'll have an hour and twenty minutes to complete both essays. I'm current on my reading, and kept pretty good notes - the professor said he wants to see the lecture topics tied into the reading material to show a good understanding of the subject. (Gay & Lesbian American History)

How on earth do I prepare for this type of test? Bonus points for quick solutions + long term planning for next semester. Thanks!

Take-home tests: Why?

scratch — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 10:56:30 -0800

What's the point of a take-home exam? A regular exam, completed in class, tests a student's ability to use knowlege acquired during classes and through studying. But a take-home exam tests a student's ability to look up the answers. Why does my prof want to know if I am capable of looking stuff up?

CLEP exam advice?

horsemuth — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 20:28:51 -0800

I'm going to college...about 10 years late. My employer will pay for school, but not for another 6 months, and I want to get started now. My school will accept up to 45 credits through the CLEP exams. Anyone take them? Any advice on studying or strategies for taking them? Helpful books?

Civil Service Exams

sugarfish — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 10:49:50 -0800

Civil service exams. Anyone ever taken them? What did you do to prepare? This is in Illinois, if it makes a difference.

Need Study Pointers and Moral Support for New York Bar Exam

adrober — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 22:34:36 -0800

I'm studying for the New York bar exam (law), using BarBri, and I was wondering if there's anyone out there who's passed the bar and can give me any pointers on scrambling to learn all this material? I feel like a candle burning at both ends and I need some moral support. Thanks!

Memorization tips and tricks?

Mossy — Wed, 26 May 2004 20:47:14 -0800

Exam time. 2 weeks until some massive exams, which mostly consist of memorising and regurgitating code snippets and proofs for maths theorems out. Any tips/hints for last minute revision to round off longer term memorisation?

Help me sleep before an exam

PrinceValium — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 09:51:47 -0800

Law school final exams are here! The key is analysis and clarity rather than rote memorization, so rest and concentration are ideal. But I'm a complete insomniac. What's the best way to ensure 8 hours of sleep before a 9 AM exam? Chemical solutions (over the counter), while not preferred, are OK unless there is a chance that they will interfere with mental ability the next morning.