Here goes nothing

[trinityvixen]

As in, here goes nothing extra possibly getting fit into my head before this monster of a test. Previously, I had been quite wrong about my potential for test-taking in this class. This time, I've tested myself with practice exams and my "good" score was still several shades shy of a D. Yippie. It remains to be seen if I'll do as poorly as I'm expecting, if the rest of the class will fall into similar despair, and, if they do, whether the thing will be curved. I wonder if being away from "real" school for so long has made me into more of a grade-grubbing, freaking-out-about-score crazy person, or if I was always like that and the constant grind of studying took the edge off because more tests = less stress for any given test.

Man, I am no good at this school thing. Why do I want to go back again?

Comments

[svilleficrecs.livejournal.com]

My number one test taking strategy (better for multiple choice, but usable on any test w/ a lot of questions.) Simply put, triage methodically. Scan the question, and if you know the answer immediately, do it (though watch out esp. in later parts of test for fakeout easy answers). If you can't do it immediately, it's either a + (which means you're pretty sure you could do it given the time) or a - (which means you're not so sure you could figure it out, even if you had all day.)

The trick is to be ruthless about getting through the test doing either "Answer, + or -". Don't let yourself get sidetracked thinking about the + questions. Make sure you do all the insta-answer ones first, so you've got those points banked. Then go back and work through the + ones. Only once you've done all them do you spend more than a second on the - ones. You'll have the confidence boost of knowing you've banked all the answers you know, and you can relax knowing you're not wasting the time you've got left on a maybe impossible question and leaving other points on the table.

This works particularly well on tests (or sections) where every question is worth the same. In any event, good luck!

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

This is probably going to reveal to be that person you hated in school, but I'd always panic if I wasn't the first person finished. If someone handed in the test before me, I'd rush through the rest of it. I couldn't help it. I had to be one of the first people out.

Turns out this is still true, as I learned when taking the Red Cross CPR certification test. Teacher's pet says what?

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

more tests = less stress for any given test.
I don't think it works like that. I think it's more like more tests = forgetting there was ever a state of not being in a terrified panic.