Anybody else here stress about their assignments and exams? I just wrapped up a midterm exam and I’m freaking out thinking that I didn’t prepare enough. I got stuck on one problem and I’m freaking out now. lol.
Anyway, anybody have that problem? Anybody have any suggestions for how to deal with it?
I think you are totally alone in this. all the rest of us are perfectly at ease with all our efforts. (HA!)
but seriously: feeling like you short changed something suggests a some residue of sanity is remaining, despite all the pressure. I would worry much more about someone with an ego so big that they thought they had it all down perfectly.
as to coping mechanisms: consider taking a break - schedule in a bit of exercise. a walk some where - or even a curl up with a good book. the point is to get away for a few minutes. You will return sharper and ready to go.
Hello Medeirosaurus
I just had to chime in on your post, because it brought back memories of one mid-term I wrote, a little over three years ago.
It was during the first semester of my completing pre-reqs prior to applying to med school. Decades long I had been away from academia, and I was tackling Bio, Gen. chem, physics, and calculus at a local university, on a full-time basis.
My first mid-term was gen.chem.
I was pluging along okay, until I reached a question about half-way through the exam. The question made sense (it was a redox caclculation if I remember correctly), but the numbers simply did NOT add up correctly. And I simply GOT STUCK. For lack of recent exam taking experience, I simply stayed on that problem way too long, before eventually moving on.
The result was that I ended up having to rush through the last several questions.
When I got home later on that evening, I simply broke down into a terrible sob.
As it turns out, there was an error in the question as it had been written by the prof. The question was obviously not considered in establishing the score.
But this was a very good lesson for me. I no longer choke on problematic questions. I give it my best shot, then MOVE ON!
I remember that that mid-term exam had really tested my resolve. It had scarred me, big time! A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then. Exams still stress me out, as I go on learning how to live through exam season without loosing more hair more than I already have.
Cheers!
PS.
I’m now in second year of med-school.
Our university uses PBL (Problem Based Learning) methodolgies.
The first 5 weeks of school covered the cardio-vascular system.
We’re now in the 4th of a 5 week block studying pneumology. Pneumothoraces are the subject of the day.
And while there’s a lot of new concepts to learn, all this is so really cool!
IMO pre-med has been a good way to get used to taking exams again. Like most, I still experience stress as exams approach, but a couple of years into the process, I have adopted an attitude of the routine toward taking them. That is to say, I approach them like laundry or taxes. Almost no one (no one I know anyway) enjoys them, but we all have to take them, and I’m safe assuming the playing field is basically level among us. So, I do my best to avoid the feelings you described. Study early, study often, and don’t stall out on that one question that’s going to bog you down. Best of luck, Merlin.
Hey all:
I am seriously stressed and strongly considering dropping my physics class right now. Taking biochem, org chem and physics, all with labs and working full time is just becoming a bit too much…!
JUST becoming a bit much? I would have jumped right out the window about the second week of the semester!
- lpressley130 Said:
Hey all:
I am seriously stressed and strongly considering dropping my physics class right now. Taking biochem, org chem and physics, all with labs and working full time is just becoming a bit too much...!
I am seriously stressed and strongly considering dropping my physics class right now. Taking biochem, org chem and physics, all with labs and working full time is just becoming a bit too much...!
That is indeed quite a load. Do what's necessary to get reasonable grades. As I've said before, if you think you're going to end up with a low C or even a D, look into dropping the class, but only if.
You’re right! I don’t know what I was thinking. In fact, my whole class feels the same way. Between the panic attacks, persistent doubt and the constant release of those bad stress hormones, I’ve about had it! I’m working with the director of the program to see what we can do… But, physics is out of the picture, that’s for sure.
LOL! I appreciate all the responses and feedback. lpressley, you certainly blow my course load right out of the water…that’s a scary combination of courses.
Anyway, I got my midterm scores and I have an A and a B. The B is irritating me…in fact, it irritated me so much that I emailed my professor and asked her why I have a B right now. The answer relieved me. Basically, we’ve only covered 30 points out of 100 points in the class so far. So, either there’s a lot of material to cover, or some REALLY big assignments coming up for the second half.
We’ll see…
I am absolutely compulsive about studying now that I’m an ‘older’ student.
After our last lab exam, I came out and went through every cadaver in my mind/out loud with some other members of the lab and one of them finally turned to me and said “My God, are you always like this? How do you even remember what the questions were?”
I remember because I also feel anxiety about exams and have to over-prepare to go in and feel like I am ready. In my heightened state of test-taking arousal 
I remember pretty much every question…and I can walk out the door and say “On cadaver 3, were the answers a,b,c,d,e and f?”
So yes…I feel anxious too. It keeps me on my toes though.
Lpressley…talk to one of your profs about taking an incomplete. There is no reason to toss the money that you have already paid out the window.