IN THE MIDST OF FINALS - Steve Vogel Learning Strategist

Whether you are a high school student or a college student wrapping up the spring term, you are likely in the midst of finals, or about to begin. This week: The exam checklist.

First—and this is especially for you Grade Twelve students—yes, you’re doing the work to get the grade on the finals. Yes, graduation is memorable. But I’m going to say even while preparing for and writing those finals, take time to savour the specialness of this time in your life. The transition from Grade Twelve to college or the workforce is probably the most significant transition you are going to make until you get married or become a parent. This month, most of you still have many other people responsible for you, and to you.

This fall, the major responsibility for your health, structure, seeking out support, managing finances, and for just getting things done will be . . . you. So now, savour how you have become who you are. Share the memories with the friends you made these memories with. Between exams, or after the last exam, the conversations that are filled with, “Remember the time we . . . “ are conversations to make time for and enjoy. Touch base with friends–even if just a quick text. Make sure you have this summer’s contacts and know who’s going where, what’s next for them.

Now the checklist. It seems I talk about this often and repeat myself, but students do keep writing exams, term after term after tem. This is the same checklist as modified just two months ago for college students. I can’t think of one item that might not be relevant for Grade Twelve students or this term’s college students—if there is, let me know for next year’s Grade Twelve exam blog.

Here we go.

The Night Before the Exam

First, take a sheet of paper or large file card, and make up a plan of what you need to do, and what you need to bring to the exam.

Now plan your plan with a list. Your list might include

Gas up the car or make sure you have your bus pass..
Eat a light dinner.
Review study summary.
Complete help sheets that are allowed.
Set out breakfast.
Pack snacks, lunch and hydration for tomorrow.
Charge phone.
Charge tablet/computer.
Charge calculator.
Make sure student ID is in wallet.
Make sure bus pass or parking pass is in wallet.
Make sure cash, credit cards, and license are in wallet.
Make sure wallet is in purse or pants you’ll be wearing.
Pack extra pens/pencils.
Pack a timepiece (that may be your phone).
Check weather forecast.
Set out clothes for tomorrow.
Pack back pack with everything except food and items charging.
Eat a light snack if that is part of your regular food plan.
Place packed backpack out of sight next to your door.
Set your charged or plugged in alarm and put it out of reach of your bed.
Set alternate alarm.
Visualize writing the exam.
Visualize walking out of the exam room.
Put away the day with your bedtime routine and calming exercises.
Go to bed and sleep.

The Day of the Exam

Go through your morning grooming routine.
Eat a light breakfast.
Pack phone and charger into your backpack.
Pack tablet/computer and charger into your backpack.
Pack calculator and charger into your backpack.
Pack snacks, lunch and hydration into your backpack.
Check your wallet contents and ensure it is in your pants or purse.
Grab your keys.
Go to the exam site. Target to arrive 15 minutes before exam time–too early is almost as bad as too late.

At the Exam Site

Go to the bathroom.
Avoid lingering near the entrance to the exam room, picking up the chatter and fear pheromones from other students.
When the exam door opens, find your seat, arrange your ID, supplies, and timepiece.
Breathe. Calm.

Writing the Exam

I have dealt elsewhere with techniques for writing different types of exams and different types of questions, and will be happy to discuss particulars with you. In the meantime, the basics are

Use every minute. Do not leave early.
Answer every question. If you don’t know, a best guess (or any guess) has a better chance for marks than no answer unless the question is right minus wrong.
Read the introduction to the exam. It may have critical instructions, such as “show your work,” “answer in complete sentences” “show your outline.”
For every question, read the whole question before you start to answer.
Quickly answer the questions that are easy for you.
Note which questions are worth the most points, and allow enough time to give yourself time for them.
Keep your eye on your timepiece.
Outline essay questions before you start to write the essay–but keep your eye on your timepiece.
If you run into a question you have no idea how to answer, move on and come back to it later. Sometimes memory kicks in. Sometimes later questions give an idea about how to answer.
Check your work once you have answered everything for typos or missing words. Marks have been lost because the word “no” was intended but not entered.
Again, answer every question. If you don’t know, a best guess (or any guess) has a better chance for marks than no answer unless the question is right minus wrong.
Again, use every minute. Do not leave early.
And make sure your name and ID are on your exam.

After the exam

Leave quietly.
Avoid the nerve-wracking post mortem sessions with other students at the exit.
Endorse yourself for preparing for and writing the exam in a professional manner.
Take time for a reward before heading into preparing for the next exam.

Now modify to make this list your own.

Extra tip No. 1: What if there are questions I have no idea how to answer?

Accept that it is normal to have a quickening of the pulse and a bit of anxiety or fear. Then pause, lift up your head, and call on your rational self. You may well not get this question. A suitable response may come later. Take the secure thought that you will finish this exam, will finish the term, and you will survive. Right now, it’s just finish this exam.

Plant your feet firmly on the floor.

Skim through the rest of the exam to make sure you have time for the answers you are more sure of. Sometimes there is information in later questions that give a cue for the question you are uncertain of.

If there are several troubling questions, accept that this is not a happy time, but it is also not the last exam you are going to write in your life. Tell yourself that you are going to do as good as you can, and that will be what you do on this exam, this day.

Extra Tip No. 2: What if I have exams back to back?

Plan ahead to use the break between exams. You will want to allow for travel from venue to venue, hydration, light nourishment, bathroom breaks, and ensuring that you have all of your tools, texts, etc. in your backpack as you leave one exam and move on to the next.

Change your mental focus. If there are concerns about the earlier exam when you have finished it, jot them down on your phone, take a few deep breaths, stretch and recall your mental notes for the upcoming exam.

Preparing for the week

You know what I’m going to say.

Maintain your exam week routine, getting up, eating, and sleeping on the schedule that is best for you.

Prioritize your allocation of study time so that what needs the most attention gets the most attention.

Balance self-care: nutrition, hydration, rest, emotional, exercise, social, spiritual. (It’s not that onerous. You can multitask.)

Schedule these tasks flexibly. Review and modify every evening.

Endorse, Reinforce, and Reward!

You can do this!

Touch base with me to wrap up the details and to let me know how it went [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.