The Language of Love

How curious.... When I was young, exams were meant to test the individual and I don't remember anyone collapsing under the strain (though a fair few of us suffered bad results - I got U in World Affairs - Ungraded)

 

Back then of course we were put through tests every other week. The results were often read out, those who did well applauded, those who did badly humiliated mildly, and no-one worried about psychological damage of which I suspect there was very little. It seems to me that the political correctness in modern western classrooms doesn't prepare children for stress or stong demands either as young students or in later life.

Well, I think there's something there...that education methods have changed over the years. When we were kids, no one knew what ADD/ADHD, test anxiety, or other 'behavioral' issues were, and those kids were often dealt with. Those with learning disabilities like dyslexia (which is really an umbrella term for so many visual learning disabilities) were often just cast aside into the 'special kids' classes, which only held them back.

 

Test anxiety is something that, like I said, I was oblivious to before I started teaching. Either there weren't many people who suffered...or they coped in ways that weren't obvious (medication, for example). Another side is that many students in college try to 'go without' their special status...all through high school they are forced to get special help, extra time, etc., and they often feel like in college they have to try to go on their own. It's something I support them on, although usually they tell me what their learning disability is at the beginning of the term, so that I can work with them throughout and monitor them. Sometimes I end up telling them to go back to Disability Services for their special permissions...other times, I don't. It depends on the severity of the disability.

One of my brothers failed his university admission tests like this. Because they were given just once a year and the competition was high there was a lot of pressure and he performed far below then during mock exams with his tutor. This was happening in communism so I guess it had nothing to do with "political correctness in modern western classrooms". Some people just can't take the pressure. I myself choked a few times when I had to speak in front of crowds so I can sympathize.

That was my weakness: huge stage freight, even when sitting at my desk. I had zero self-confidence, so when called on to give the answer to something, or when I had to give a presentation, I freaked. That changed my last year in college, as I gained more self-confidence, and my fear of speaking subsided completely. Of course, no one who knows me now believes me!

I did very badly in my A-levels. At first I put it down to exam-angst, but it turned out the main reason for the poor grades was that I'm as thick as sh*t.

I know how Ghost feels but even for those of us who failed to make as good grades as we should have in school there can be hope for you later in life.

 

more generally some of exam issues can be down to how individual students prepare or don't prepare for exams as much as their perceptions of what is required.

 

My brother had a fellow student in High School who was a straight 'A' student nto only that but seems to have he got 100% in all of his tests but spent all of his time studying and revising to the extent that he had a nervous breakdown before his exams and failed the lot.

 

In comparison when studying for a Degree part time we had one mature student who was also a straight A student but had twice totally failed his final topic exam.

 

We eventually realised what had kept tripping him up and as a class basically battered him into the realisation that there was no 'correct' answer to the visual images which were first up in the exam. He eventually accepted that he could choose in which order to deal with the topics and that with the visual images he had to make his own interpretation based on the available evidence presented and comparisons with other images he knew.

 

I later heard that he did finally achieve the top level 'honours' grade he had previously kept failing on.

You're right, Melvadius, that preparation is key. But those with test anxiety usually over-prepare, as they are so worried about failing that they cover every single possible angle, not just those that you lay out for them in a review packet. They display a high-strung nature normally, but that gets ramped up big time before and during an exam. And it doesn't matter what kind of exam it is...it's the pressure situation associated with the exam. These are people that will start to freak out on a small quiz...and God help them if there's a surprise quiz in class.

 

Test anxiety isn't about being a bit on the slow side, or about lack of preparation. It's about true, paralyzing anxiety, the kind that most of us don't feel on a regular basis. These people are incapable of relaxing their mind enough to take an exam properly.