This Is Not a Test

My Maths exam is tomorrow. I am so bored of sitting around doing past papers all day long that I am actually glad to do it so that it will all be over! At the same time, I am a bit nervous: I want to do justice to the huge progress I have made in Maths during the past three years. I have a tendency to take exams too personally, I think... which is why I like listening to the song This Is Not A Test before exams - it is a great feel-good song that reminds me that I am not being judged as a person in an exam. More generally, it reminds me to stop stressing over getting to goals, and to take the present in more (it doesn't do to never be where you are physically...).

(I also appreciate the irony of the fact that yes, it IS a test that I am going to sit tomorrow - so listening to this song also leaves me with a smug little self-contented smile)

For those of you who tried but didn't make it
Settle down, it's never what you think
The summit doesn't differ from the deep dark valley 
And the valley doesn't differ from the kitchen sink


For those of you who thought you'd be forgotten
The friends you've made will try their best to make it so
Think of all the beauty that you've left behind you
You can take it if you want it and then let it go

In the meantime, let's just listen to the song a few times and think of how free we will be once it's over. Besides, aren't She & Him an absolutely adorable duo? 

Their songs are all very simple, sweet and uplifting. Hipster fluff, I suppose; but I like them. Zooey Deschanel is, incidentally, one of my favourite pop figures: she's terribly pretty (those blue eyes!), has a great fashion style, and she both acts and sings! It helps that 500 Days of Summer is one of my favourite romantic comedies.

So, She & Him: a musical suggestion to help you feel chirpy and laid-back.

The role of exams in education

Studying for exams leaves me feeling intellectually drained, unable to entertain myself through my usual inner monologue formed by an endless succession of speculative questions connected to each other. That aimless mental wondering - strolling along wise ideas of past thinkers, suddenly finding insight in a strong turn of phrase, jumping from one idea to another by deduction, induction and analogy, sprinting wildly to a different area of knowledge, pausing to breathe and draw conclusions, climbing by supporting myself in my set of axioms and mental framework, reaching some new formulation of an idea that seems breathtaking and then dissolves into thin air, leaving an exhilarating dizziness - is one of my greatest playful joys, but it is at the moment impossible. The thought of exams, always at the back of my mind, acts like a straight jacket on my imagination and reasoning. I have to format my mind to certain types of question and straight, narrow, dim mental pathways, the ones required in exams. I force-feed myself revision topics and past papers.

Why? I can't really justify my own behaviour. I know time would be better spent exploring new, challenging ideas than drumming into myself things I already know, but I have a sense of duty in relation to school that acts as a brake on my mental energy. I wish I could be less of a perfectionist/ masochist in my relation to what I still perceive to be my job - actually, in relation to everything. On the other hand, this drive to succeed in whatever, even if rationally I know that pursuit is not important (connected to feelings of guilt if I don't), helps me reach goals that later make me proud and happy.

I hope that, in the following years, my work will be exciting and demanding, so that I feel an appetite for studying that is connected with increasing my knowledge of the world, instead of just being about performing according to expectations. I like liking to study, because I believe it is fundamental in gaining true understanding of reality, but this type of close-minded training is just a tedious wait for the moment when our work will be measured against standards of conventionality.

I am not against exams. I think that it is important for fairness that there is a way of levelling students nation-wide based on the same standards. Some people argue that, since we have different natural abilities, it is unfair to measure everyone in the same way. In my opinion, this doesn't hold: someone who is unable to do a somersault (like me) is simply not on the same level as an Olympic gymnast, even if the difference is due to natural ability. The abolition of exams wouldn't abolish differences between people, it would just lead to pretending they don't exist. But they do, and we must know what each individual is able to do (and how does his or her performance compare to others' in the same group) to choose people for specific roles they will take in society. 

What I do support is that the roles taken by people should not be determined by where they are born and how much money their parents have: fairness is based in giving equal opportunities to all, which implies a much, much bigger state investment in the education of people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and (of course!) a marked redistribution of income. I have no ideological objections to differences in natural features - actually, I believe a diverse society is healthier and produces more, because new ideas are usually the result of the confront of different perspectives. 

To put it clear: I think there should be exams. However, they are just a measuring instrument amongst others: they should never be seen as the ultimate goal of education. Maybe I am just a hopeless romantic, but I strongly feel that knowledge, an ability to think critically, to express yourself and to participate in the world are the point of education, and that its ultimate goal is giving freedom (and responsibility) to individuals, so that each is able to pursue happiness and contribute to society. 

This should never be forgotten, but unfortunately there is at the moment a tendency to see education as a path to exams, which are, in themselves, absolutely sterile. Consequently, both students and teachers become alienated and lose motivation. Obviously, this effect is biggest in students who had, due to social circumstances, less motivation to begin with. Therefore, in these circumstances, exams are an indirect factor of social exclusion. 

The general conclusion is that exams are important in evaluating people fairly, but that they should never be at the core of education - people and knowledge should, with the goal of producing a fair society of free individuals. In practical terms, this means less time should be spent in training students for exams by doing past papers or learning irrelevant details on specific topics; instead, students should be encouraged to fully understand what they are studying, to probe deeper, to ask questions and to look for answers in an independent and creative way.

The personal conclusion? I need to improve my ability to relax and put things in perspective, so that I can use my time in a more productive and healthier way. My priorities shouldn't be determined by an education policy with which I disagree.

Studying for Exams

In an attempt to organize my work for the next few days, I will share a few revision tips - stuff that served me well last year. I don't really have a lot of experience in sitting exams, but I seem to be good enough at it, so here are my tips:

• Throughout the year: 
• make the most out of classes (if they are any good) - stay focused, answer questions and ask doubts, always take notes and do the exercises. 
• keep your notes well-organised - they don't need to look all pretty and girly, but it is far easier to study if they are clean, in the right order and easy to read. This is something in which I failed this year, and I felt it really contributed to me feeling less motivated for school.
• start at the foundations - if you're struggling, it's often useful to revise the basics. Don't be ashamed to admit to yourself that you don't know stuff that was taught three or four years ago: it happens to everyone! Besides, in just a few hours of studying, you can master those skills and get a real boost in your confidence in harder topics.
• don't let work pile up - revise enough to make sure you are following and absorbing the main ideas.
• establish connections between topics - take your time to think about what you're learning. Ask yourself questions that probe deeper and try to build a wider picture of your knowledge. You have to memorise far less data this way and you can apply what you know in a much more pointed way.
• trust yourself - it's near impossible to study if you think you won't be able to do it, because you just can't concentrate, so keep positive!
• don't rely too much on others - you are the one who has to learn, and, in exams, there won't be anyone to help you, so get used to solving problems/learning on your own. Ask for help only when you are really stuck.
• work, but not too much - avoid feeling burnt out or exhausted. It's better to solve a single problem/answer a question which contains the core topics and methods, and understand it thoroughly, than to solve a million ones without grasping the essential ideas.

• Revision before exams:
• plan a timetable - decide what you are going to do each day. Be realistic when planning and set yourself work you can actually finish. This way, you make sure that you cover everything before the exam.
• don't overwork - give yourself breaks to rest, eat, talk to someone else, do a bit of sport. Your performance will be much better while studying, and you'll avoid unproductive stress. Also, sleep enough: you'll profit more from a good night of sleep than from torturing yourself in front of an open book until 2 a.m.
• do past papers, and pay a lot of attention to the mark scheme and solutions - this allows you to answer exactly what the examiners want, and maximise your points. Besides, being familiar with the type of questions gives you self-confidence.
• avoid last minute revision - the afternoon/morning before the exam, try to relax as much as possible. Whatever you study at this point won't improve your performance: what matters is your continuous, year-long work.
• use your notes to make sure you know the full syllabus.
• be critical and honest with yourself when doing past papers - when you get something wrong, make sure you understand why, go back to the question and discover the line of thought that would have led you to the right answer. This way, you can train yourself to think in the right direction. Ensure you do past papers in the set time, and check what grade you would have had.

• While doing the exam:
• read and understand the questions - often, the way a question is worded suggests the answer. Underline the important parts of the question, and think of the topics you know that are connected to those. If you have no idea of what you should answer, read again and again and write down all the data given to you to try to find what connects the different pieces.
• stay calm - don't panic. If you don't know what to answer, leave it and try again after doing everything else, so as to have as many points as possible. Then, read and re-read; if you get stuck at the middle, think coldly of what is the next logical step. It will generally be something you've seen before, so you'll be able to get there!
• always think back to things you have done before.
• organise your answers before writing them down - create a list of main ideas and check how they are related to each other. This way, you'll make sure you're not forgetting anything.
• write clearly and be obvious - if the topics they want to read are muddled, probably the person who is correcting won't recognise your knowledge there, so be very precise. Write down even the most basic ideas - you don't want to lose points in things you do know.
• do everything the way they ask - don't write more or less than the word limit; use the method they ask for in the question; etc. This is obvious, but it can mean a significant difference in your grade.
• check all your answers carefully - re-read both the questions and your answers to make sure you have answered in the right direction. However, don't panic and start correcting everything - if you're in doubt, don't change your answer.

Best of luck to everyone!!