Help/Support ► My test...

[Dogenzaka]

Sorry, guys, I'm just looking for some comfort/to see if anyone else has gone through some bad test experiences...

I need all A's for the next 2 semesters to get into the major I want to do (biomedical engineering).

I had three exams the past two days. I haven't slept in about that long, either.

I've never taken calculus before, and considering I'm in the difficult cluster section (engineering/math/physics mixed together) of the difficult version of the course (engineering calculus) I spend at least an hour everyday working problems to try to nail these concepts down (which most of my classmates learned in high school).

So my test was tonight at 7:30. I had practiced and practiced and practiced. Worked practice tests, week-in-review problems, homework, suggested homework, office ours with my professor, homework help sessions, supplemental tutoring, everything. I think I got the gist of most of it.

But after being swamped with exams in my other classes (one of which was 25% of the course grade :<) and getting next to no sleep or food, by the time it got to around 5:30PM this afternoon, I started to feel very sick. I had to fight myself not to vomit.

I knew if I missed the exam, I couldn't get a doctor's note because I wasn't going to go to the ER and the campus clinic was closed. I would not get a chance to retake it.

I was horrendously exhausted. By 5PM I tried to do a past exam from the course, but every question I looked at just swam in front of my eyes. I couldn't remember what to do with anything. I began to blank out on the simplest of concepts and messed up adding simple numbers.

It was less than an hour before my exam and my brain would simply not comply anymore. But I couldn't afford to make anything less than a B on this exam...

I said my prayers and went in.

It took me biting my cheeks and swallowing my puke to keep myself from vomiting on my test (if you make it to the test, you give up any right to a retake).

The exam was split between about 19 questions, some of which were multiple choice, some of which were work-out problems. The work-out problems were weighty, most of them were about 10 points each.

I tried my best to remember what I had practiced so hard for, but I couldn't focus. I skipped the first 10 or so questions and did the easy ones, and worked back from memory to the hard concepts.

Hoping I did okay, but at the last 15 seconds of the exam, I noticed a work-out problem I didn't catch before. It was underneath a space reserved for work-showing. So I had 15 seconds to do a math problem worth 10 points.

I scribbled something and am hoping I get partial credit, but for the most part I feel abused, disoriented, and depressed about this exam lol.

It's probably going to be a horrible grade...

Hopefully I'm not the only one who has had a bad text experience (and not just from forgetting to study or procrastinating)? I'm sure there's worse stories out there (my friend told me about a guy who actually did vomit on his test, and the people around him...)...so please post them here if they'll make me feel better, lol.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Every Intermediate Algebra final I took last semester. Those were my dread moments because I would study but it just wouldn't click.

And when I took my Classical Politics midterm. I had to answer ten questions to get 100%. I only answered seven which meant the highest I could get was a C. An I knew for a fact I bullshitted the last two questions so when I got my test back I got a D. I would have cried if I hadn't been more concerned over math which I got a C on, but I still failed the class.

I've had worst times, but I don't try to remember them or I start hyperventilating. And generally I tell myself before a test I will do horribly so I don't get cocky or overconfident. So every test is horrible for me, just because I feel like I'm about to puke and it takes me a week to start eating normally again.

Idk if that made you feel better. I have harder times with papers I've procrastinated on than tests I've failed. And I have only failed a test twice in college and frankly last semester I was already miserable.

 

[Deleted member 36435]

You need to sleep.
Don't study and then don't sleep. You won't recall anything.

 

[Banishing Blade]

For some reason, it is not possible for me to write a good calculus final. Every calc final I've written in University (3 total) has resulted in 12-15% drop from the mark I had going into the exam and the one I came out with. I know the material, or else I wouldn't be able to be a peer tutor for the department and it's not like I'm not math-inclined, I make great marks in my other math classes. Just something about calculus.

Anyway, sounds like to me like you overworked/overstudied. Grinding your way through practice exam after practice exam won't help if you don't give yourself time to absorb the information. Sleeping and eating are HUGE when studying. Neglecting them for more study time is almost always a bad idea. Other than that, not too much else to say. My philosophy on exams is to not worry about them. I don't ignore them, but getting stressed out or riled up never helped anyone.

EDIT: I should mention my Roman Civ final last semester. It was one of three courses that would fit my schedule (other choices consisted of a Women's Studies course, or an english course, fuck that shit), didn't relate in the least to my majors and prime interests and was just plain boring. I ended up deciding not to waste my time on a paper worth 15% of my mark, figuring I could still bullshit my way to an A on the final and still getting at least a B- overall. Well, imagine my surprise when 20% of the final was based on that paper I didn't write. Was quite the "FML"

 

[Dogenzaka]

You need to sleep.
Don't study and then don't sleep. You won't recall anything.

I tried to take naps but I really couldn't. I'm not the kind of person to cram and do all-nighters, but I had a project I had to finish up on Wednesday, a lab directly afterwards, and then a test on Wednesday evening, had to study for my test on Thursday morning that I had sort of neglected studying for because I was focusing on my other test, and then classes all day Thursday, a lunch commitment that afternoon, a heavily-counted quiz at the end of my last class, and then by that time it was 5PM and time for my test that evening, after which I had a meeting to go to before I could go to bed.

I tried to nap for a short while on Thursday, but by that point the anxiety wouldn't let me sleep...

It was just one of those rare days where everything on earth piles up in a 24-48 hour period

 

[Silver_Soul]

well
i i think i just got my first C in my high school life

i bombed a test horribly
and my book report was horrible
because i used we once in all my paper

she said no first person, and decided 1 word decided a failing grade
Dual Credit US history is the class

 

[Dogenzaka]

^ That is...fucked up.....

 

[Silver_Soul]

^ That is...fucked up.....

tell me about it...

its not fair at all

and she did it with a smiling face too

aaaahh

it made me stress so much.
i like her, and i think she is a nice person, but she grades way too hard

i still have the rest of the semester to bring it up, but oh well. what can i do

 

[Deleted member 36435]

I tried to take naps but I really couldn't. I'm not the kind of person to cram and do all-nighters, but I had a project I had to finish up on Wednesday, a lab directly afterwards, and then a test on Wednesday evening, had to study for my test on Tuesday morning that I had sort of neglected studying for because I was focusing on my other test, and then classes all day Thursday, a lunch commitment that afternoon, a heavily-counted quiz at the end of my last class, and then by that time it was 5PM and time for my test that evening, after which I had a meeting to go to before I could go to bed.

I tried to nap for a short while on Thursday, but by that point the anxiety wouldn't let me sleep...

It was just one of those rare days where everything on earth piles up in a 24-48 hour period

 

[Bukkake Sensei]

I tried to take naps but I really couldn't. I'm not the kind of person to cram and do all-nighters, but I had a project I had to finish up on Wednesday, a lab directly afterwards, and then a test on Wednesday evening, had to study for my test on Tuesday morning that I had sort of neglected studying for because I was focusing on my other test, and then classes all day Thursday, a lunch commitment that afternoon, a heavily-counted quiz at the end of my last class, and then by that time it was 5PM and time for my test that evening, after which I had a meeting to go to before I could go to bed.

I tried to nap for a short while on Thursday, but by that point the anxiety wouldn't let me sleep...

It was just one of those rare days where everything on earth piles up in a 24-48 hour period

 

[Fire's fan]

Well that sucks,
But yah I've had problems with procrastinating

The worst grade I ever got was in 6th grade, I freaked because I got a C- on my math class. It was also the year I got my first detention. And the year my teachers basically called me a loser and stuck me in with the school counseler's 'special lunch group'. (I had just moved there and the people in the school weren't the nicest people ever, give me a break!)

 

[TheMuffinMan]

Pretty much this.

I mean, it's gonna sound dumb, but look into Melatonin vitamins.

On the reverse spectrum, for when you're cramming, look into Adderol or Piracetam. Regardless of whether you think it's a "bad kid" thing or whatever, but it's pretty much what can help you get through the rough patches. It's not for stoners or derelicts, it's for people who are doing really fucking inhuman hard shit. You're in Engineering, so you qualify for that.

In terms of your actual stress for your situation, I don't see why you wold need straight A's to get into a program. for the most part, to get accepted to a program you should just need to have the pre-req classes completed. not perfected. Did someone of particular influence specifically tell you that you needed something like a 4.0gpa to get in?

 

[Kunoichi]

Got a 98% on my first E&M exam, had some maybe-slightly-overconfident feelings...then, 42% on the next one. lol. Each test was 1/3 of the total grade. I didn't even hear the teacher explain the solutions because I was trying so hard not to cry in there.

If you honestly prepared as much as you say you did, I don't think it's possible for you to have done that bad. If there's a curve, maybe everyone else did crappy and your grade will turn out good. But if does go south, I'd consider retaking the class - even if it's a C. You'll need to be really comfortable with calculus for physics and later math classes, or you'll just wreck your whole transcript.