How to Write Examinations

It’s getting to that time of year for students: the horror of final exams.

So, for my grandchildren and others who will soon be filing into examination theatres, or staring at their computer screens, a few tips. That I graduated cum laude from law school doesn’t tell you I’m smart, it just tells you that I cracked the code of writing exams, having written probably more than two hundred of them.

1. Prepare. Cram. Know the stuff inside out. Get and crack copies of previous exams, and if possible, model answers. Don’t memorize, try to understand what’s going on.

2. Understand the subject matter as a system. Whether it’s math, science, philosophy, or contract law, there’s a “point” to it all. Figure it out, grid it in your mind.

3. Crazy tricks are fair game. Word games, mnemonic devices, squares and triangles, anything that gives you a crutch without cheating. Remember Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp, the mnemonic to figure out the crazy French grammar rules of être and avoir? Anything that makes data stick in your brain is fair game.

4. Reduce the entire course to a few recipe cards, or sticky notes, or cheat sheets. Start with the mass, systematize it to point form, reduce that to bullet points that are burned into your brain.

5. Rituals are fine, if they genuinely give you confidence. If you really think your stinky sweaty old Mickey Mouse shirt helps you think better, well, for heaven’s sake, wear it!

6. Do your best to be healthy when you write the exam. Don’t cram until six in the morning and go into the exam hall at nine. That’s just dumb, and you deserve to flunk. You need your mind and your energy at 100%.

7. When you sit down before the exam, stop and breathe. Crack your knuckles if that relaxes you, or take deep breaths, or close your eyes and meditate or pray or whatever brings you peace. You need to be chill.

8. When they tell you that you can start, don’t rush into flail mode. This is war, and victory belongs to those with cool heads. Relax and breathe.

9. Read the entire exam, end to end, before you pick up a pen or clack at the keyboard.

10. Budget your time. Select the questions you know that you can ace, and do those first. Then do the ones you still “feel pretty good about”. Finally, if you have time, whack away at the sketchier questions.

11. If you have multiple choice or true or false questions, and you don’t have a clue, check them all off as A, or true, or whatever. Statistically you’ll pick up a few marks. (If the marking scheme deducts “wrongs” from “rights”, be more cautious, and calculating. This is Vegas, save it for the very end when you have time to be cagey.)

12. If you run out the clock, don’t panic. The chances are that everyone else in the room is sweating just as hard as you, and if you’ve prepared well, the Bell Curve is your friend.

13. If you finish before the bell, also don’t panic. It probably means that your preparation has paid off. But don’t bolt the room. You’ve almost certainly made goofy mistakes or overlooked some juicy point opportunities, or maybe been a little unclear in essay questions. If you’ve got time, don’t waste it, go back and perfect your work.

14. Make sure your name is on the paper, your student number if applicable, and all the parts are in place.

If you’ve done all that, you’re done. Put this one out of your mind, go home, have a good meal and maybe a nap, and get ready for the next one. You’ve earned it.