It feels like yesterday we all arrived on campus, fresh faced, with an unshakeable sense of excitement for the upcoming semester. Can you believe that was almost a month ago? We’ve completed almost all of our semester’s firsts: first class, first football game, first late night dominos order, etc. But now comes the most dreaded of firsts: our first exam. For some of us, exams are only merely a nuisance that we must endure, but for others it is the be-all-end-all of the semester. It is a time where we realize that maybe skipping a reading or rushing through our homework so we could go out was a bad idea, when we dream of those test in high school we could spend 10 minutes reviewing for right before the test. Nonetheless here we are, staring down the barrel of our first test.
Having just completed my first exam myself, I cannot say they are not stressful because they definitely are. They are a physical representation of how we are doing in a class. It is scary to know that your class is riding on only a few grades. And stressing about a test is completely normal. It shows we actually care about our classes and how we do, which is a good thing. But sometimes stress becomes overwhelming, even debilitating. Try focusing just on the material for the test, taking it step by step, and being in the moment. If you just focus on the test itself rather than its place within your semester, you can stay calm and less stressed about the situation.
If you can get passed the stress, and sit yourself down and figure out what needs to get done you can definitely be successful. Let it be known that this does not happen over night. Studying the night before an exam is probably the worst thing you can do to yourself. Plan ahead, whether that be a couple of days or even a week or so. Set goals for you studying so that if you don’t understand something you have plenty of time to address the problem before your exam. I personally find writing out a step by step guide in my planner so I know what I should be getting down and when keeps me on task. Being all over the place all creates more work for yourself, so cut yourself a break. There is so much under our control, so harness that control and use it to your advantage.
And then sometimes there is nothing we can change about our situation, whether that be a bad grade or a bad teacher, so why fret about what we can do nothing about. I love the saying “c’est la vie,” which basically means that’s life. I once wore a shirt that had this on it and a cashier asked me what it meant, I had no idea so I looked it up and it has become my personal life motto. We can’t control everything, which sucks, but its best to focus on the things we can control rather than the things we cannot. Sometimes you just have to suck up your pride and move on.
It is hard to remind ourselves sometimes that a grade is just a grade, and no matter what it won’t kill us. And even furthermore, it is our first test. So we have a lot of time for improvement. At the end of the day, we get to go to Notre Dame. When things seem bad just look at the Golden Dome and realize we go to the most beautiful school in the world and somehow they let us in. Notre Dame has faith in you, so have faith in yourself.
Go IRISH! Beat Exams!
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