My name is Janice, and I am a mature student here at York University. I am really excited to start blogging about my experiences as a mature university student, and I would love to hear your stories of what it is like, navigating through York. I will post a new blog entry about twice a week. I look forward to reading all your comments.
As a third year Health Management undergraduate, this is my fifth official end-of-term exam period. Although it seems like I have written dozens of exams during my academic career, I will never forget the experience of writing my first university final exam.
I was seated in a completely silent gymnasium with six hundred other students, waiting anxiously for the cue to flip our exams over and begin the test. On my desk I had my York U card, a pencil, a back-up pencil, and a back-up for my back-up pencil. I brought two erasers and a pencil sharpener, just in case anything happened to my three pencils. I was so nervous. Sitting in that small desk, in a gymnasium packed with students who seemed so confident, I felt completely overwhelmed.
Three hours later, I walked out of that gymnasium absolutely relieved. Not only was I glad to have the exam over, I was also grateful that my nerves drove me to come to the final over-prepared. Now that I had completed a final, I realized that I felt more comfortable knowing that I had immediate access to enough writing supplies for three students. Since I felt more comfortable, I was better able to concentrating on actually writing my exam. Now, I never enter a test without having at least three pencils ready to go.
What are some of the ways you deal with final exam anxiety?
