Thoughts on Exams

    In middle school, exam week was hectic, horrifying, and generally insane. The classes were out-of-order and as far as I could tell followed approximately the same level of orderliness as a die roll. I could imagine the staff taking out a meter-sized six-sided die and flinging it as hard as they could down the hall.
    However, I like my schedule to either not exist at all or follow a level of predictability. Unfortunately, due to my lack of psychic abilities, I am unable to see into the future and thus cannot predict the roll of a die. As a result, I often dreaded exam week, commenting frequently on my thoughts about the randomness of the class schedule.

    Of course, the exams themselves were orderly and predictable, but there were three grades and only one was taking their exam at a time. This meant the other two were shuffled around in a way which coincided with the times of the normal schedule classes, but in an order which did not.


    High school, on the other hand, whether because the die was too expensive or because the disorderliness was too taxing, has more orderly exam dates, where the seemingly obvious and sensible pattern is followed - everyone takes their exams at the same time.
    An added benefit from the students' perspectives is that as the exams are spaced at one class to a day, the exams only run to roughly 10:30, at which point all of the students return home. However, this adds the extra risk that Finagle's Law will kick in and you forget your key while no one else is home.


    Exams themselves have never been a problem for me. As one of my teachers would have put it, I'm the person who would sleep through the class, then ace the test. (Most of it involves applying elimination and common sense to the areas you're not already familiar with. An ability to recognize root words helps.) However, this presents an interesting challenge to me in itself - if I forget a book to read, or read it too fast, I end up having to sit in the middle of an area which by its very nature must have very few stimuli. As a result, I generally put a book in my book bag the day before the exams so I don't forget on my way out the door.

    I bring the subject up because it just so happens my exam week starts tomorrow. Accordingly, I've put a befitting total of zero hours into studying for the exams, just as I always do. (I've always been very bad about my mental border between school and home. You can imagine how my ability to complete homework has been affected by this ... unfortunate habit.)


    Happy testing to all you students!