HEADING INTO MIDTERMS: IN-CLASS, ONLINE, AND CANCELLED

/in /by

February–the first midterms hit, and what a mishmash it is across campuses in Canada and the US! In-person, online, open-book, closed book, three hours to write, three days to write!!

I’ve blogged extensively on all of the above, and if you’re looking specifically for exam and exam prep techniques this week, those blogs provide useful strategies and checklists. This week I’m focussing on dealing with the impacts of exam cancellation.

In-person Exams

If you have in-person exams, you might check out tips on 

Online Exams

If your exams are online, try

Cancelled!

Something some of you have experienced is how to deal with cancelled exams. The default, least-effort approach when that happens is relief (no exam pressure for now!), possible frustration (after all the time spent preparing for the exam), and then moving on to Other Things. 

Adapting Your Game Plan

I’m going to recommend that before moving on to Other Things, you strategize adapting your academic game plan to allow for possible crunches and surprises down the road. You can:

  • Find out how the grade for the term will now be allocated. Will even more be loaded onto the final, or term projects?
  • If a final exam is cancelled, will there be a choice for aegrotat standing? Will the final course mark be the average of the other work done in the course? You do not want to be counting on the final to bring your average up if there is a chance that the final might be cancelled.
  • How will you be evaluated on the material or skills that the cancelled exam covered? How can you reschedule to make sure you are up to speed on the material when you need to be?
  • If a high school departmental exam is cancelled, how will this affect post-secondary programs you may have applied to? If a targeted school requires provincial or state exams, do you need to check for alternatives with that school, be prepared to write at the end of another term, and perhaps also apply to other schools.

Investigate effects and alternatives, then sketch out your plan and schedule rest of your term.

Dealing With Having to Deal 

Meanwhile, there is the rest of the term to be dealt with–other projects, other classes, other quizzes. 

The whipsaw effect and uncertainty of cancelled exams, rescheduled exams, presentations that have to go online–my students, my colleagues (and yes, myself) are at various degrees of being frayed.

Everything I have written about maintaining motivation and focus continues to apply–and it’s ironic that sometimes the more we need to attend to self-care to keep up our motivation, the less motivated we are to do so!

It is not fun. But we are getting through, sometimes more, sometimes less. So I encourage you once more–yes, attend to the administrivia and detail of rescheduling and cancellations, but even more importantly, do something each day just for you. And endorse yourself for each step you take, for each effort you make. 

Keep me posted. We can talk about techniques for specific academic challenges, time management, and maintaining motivation—Contact me at [email protected].

The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS  PLEASE DIAL 911.