Exam nerves - are you a victim?

[~42~]

I have my last exam for the year (and for my course) and I am just so nervous...perhaps it is because I did the subject in the first half of the year and now have to do the exam 5 months later?! I am hurriedly trying to remember it all...I am scared I am going to freeze in the exam room...has anyone had this happen? What happened?

Thanks for any advice you can provide...

[dwarfthrower]

What's the subject? Different subjects have different methods for cramming than others. But in general the best way to learn concepts is to explain them to other people. So find someone who's willing to be bored shitless for a while and explain to them in great detail the content of the course.

Other than that - for maths, physics and engineering subjects go over as many old exam papers as you can find and run through every problem in any relevant textbook you can get your hands on.

[~42~]

Thanks for the advice - it is for marketing, so i am trying to think of as many real life situations as possible to relate to the concepts!

[Vardsy]

Also if you are required to remember things that do not change regardless of circumstance (eg maths formulas) sit outside the exam room and read them over and over - as soon as you get in there and you can make notes after perusal write down as many as yuou can remember.

Also take some Jelly beans if you are allowed to.

The sugar in the beans is a good brain stimulant.

If all that fails - sleep with the teacher

[Zomgie]

For memorization of facts I find it very helpful to physically write it out.. not that I can read what I write half the time (Im more of a keyboard person), but just the repeated action of writing facts over and over again really seems to help for me.

Of course, everyone learns differently.

[Cassa]

Write out some scenarios, perhaps do some-roleplaying if it's possible - that kind of stuff will help you remember it better.

[Girl.]

I always had exams immediately after the subject finished, but on the topic of freezing up in the exam room, I had an absolute shocker in third year Uni with one exam. I prepared really well for it but for some reason, I was really nervous, and as soon as I read the questions my mind went blank and I started panicking. I spent about an hour just staring at the paper trying to figure out what to do (it was a three hour exam) and almost crying, but finally managed to calm myself down and wrote what I could down. I was convinced I'd failed but I ended up getting over 70% in it, so it obviously wasn't as bad as I thought it'd been :)

Just, keep calm before your exam. Study what you can, but don't get too stressed about it -- you probably remember much more than you think. If you do freeze up in the exam, force yourself to stop stressing and relax and you should be okay. Good luck! :)

[ms edeity]

I had a lovely old bat of a lecturer once who told me that the people who stress the most usually know alot. She said you're more aware of how much's involved. Those not worried have no concept of what's required. It's complete bollocks if you think about it but it helped me to be optimistic about my levels of anxiety.

I always crammed for everything - writing things out longhand, marking texts/ making a list of quoted examples will always help....if you can back up any answer to a question with examples/principles/quotes from literature and note them the answers tend to shape and write themselves.
Good luck. Maybe you're a little extra stressed because it's your last exam -
HEY IT"S YOUR LAST EXAM!!! CONGRATS!!!

[~42~]

:clap: :clap: :clap:

I feel much better about it now - especially about the comment about the people who know more, stress more :P

Thanks for all the advice! I am going to kick ass!!

And YES...it's the last exam....WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!