27Aug Taking a Final – some thoughts
I am sitting in my Keller class final (I am the Instructor) and I had some thoughts about how I took a final when I was a student. Here it is. Originally this was an email to my students.
As you all sit and take the final a few thoughts occurred to me that I thought I would share. I realize you will not get this email until after the final and I do wish I had shared it before. The comments have nothing to do with our final in particular.
When I would take a final at Keller I had several techniques:
1. Never finish first. I always finished first or very regularly finished near the front and this was NEVER intentional. In fact some of the following ideas and tactics came from the desire to not hand in my exam first. Someone has to be first – don’t let it be you. Why? The first exam is either going to be immediately looked at. The Instructor will be checking your work closely to see how his exam panned out. You will become the test case. If not that then at least there is a chance that you will be remembered as the first submitter and perhaps it should have taken you longer or you thought you were something to get it done so fast and all of that. I assure you I do not consciously apply any of those assumptions, but others may.
The following tactics take time and thus help with #1 as well as help you prepare for the first question.
2. Before you answer any question read the first question. On our exam tonight you had a piece of paper with the questions and a bit of room. There wasn’t enough room for an answer, but there was some room. Read the question and write anything that comes to mind in that margin. I wont check this sheet of paper, well I will, but most wont. Write keywords, comments, anything that comes to mind about question 1 before you do anything else. Exhaust the mind of anything that pertains to that question. Then do the same for #2 and so on. Do not answer anything in the answer book at this point. Do this process for each question before you move onto the answers.
#3 Tie your questions together. Some Instructors will grade all of question #1. Then all of #2 and so on. Many do not. In either case tying your questions together helps you with your train of thought and helps the instructor reference your way of thinking and writing. It makes for a much more readable exam in either case and will increase your points. Questions will lead into each other in this way and may give you ideas on other questions. It is a magical thing. Referring to common discussions or a common scenario helps this process as well.
#4 Make sure as you answer each question you refer back to step #2 and check off any keywords or thoughts you had on each question. As you are writing if another thought comes to mind – get it on paper, either on the page now or back on the list in #2. Many times this helps with #3 since you will be thinking of the whole exam rather than each question by itself as a stand alone question.
Take it or leave it. I know these helped me and might help some of you.