A small request if you will...

Mountains

Can everyone who is willing and able please say a little prayer for me (or six..) for my upcoming first exam in physiology this coming Friday morning? I'm so utterly overwhelmed with information, formulas, etc, etc that I honestly feel, for the first time in my academic life, like I stand a very good chance of failing the exam. I've never failed an exam in my life. In fact, I've never had less than a C on an exam, and that only rarely. I'm completely humbled by this, so I'll take any and all help I can muster. My brain is mush...

Thanks all!

Mtns

dorje

consider it done

fivebells

Good luck, Mountains!

It's helpful, with this kind of thing, to find old exams, and do them under exam conditions. Even more helpful to allow yourself time outs when you notice your emotional state is degrading your clarity of thought. Meditation comes in really handy, for that kind of thing.

Mountains

I have access to six old exams from this course dating from the late 1980s thru the mid-1990s. The material hasn't changed. What worries me is I'm really only able to get 20-30% of the questions correct on those! Yikes...

Tks!

Mtns

fivebells

Wow, that must be a demanding exam. Good luck with your preparations! I imagine a physiology exam is mostly rote memorization, so you have time to absorb it before Friday.

Simonthepilgrim

You pitch me back, Mountains, to seven hours (seven hours!) locked in to sit the Concours Général in philosophy - a single question on Sartre as I recall. Nightmare.

I shall offer for your equanimity and that the outcome bring you peace and happiness.

Mountains

fivebells wrote: »

Wow, that must be a demanding exam. Good luck with your preparations! I imagine a physiology exam is mostly rote memorization, so you have time to absorb it before Friday.

If ONLY! That I could do. No, at this level it's hugely more complicated than simple rote memorization. Fun stuff like electrochemical potential across a cell membrane, osmotic fluxes, Nernst equations, length constants, and more Greek letters that I knew existed.



Mtns

Mountains

Simonthepilgrim wrote: »

I shall offer for your equanimity and that the outcome bring you peace and happiness.

Thanks. I'll settle for a C

Mountains

It didn't seem to work. I got, shall we say, somewhat lower than the C I was shooting for.

fivebells

Sorry, Mountains.

Mountains

It's bizarre. In my entire academic career, going back as far as I can remember, I've never actually *failed* a test. And I failed this one *really* well. It's not like I can say "Well, that was a bust, so now I'm going to...." - I don't have a clue what I can do differently than what's given me great success in the past, and I don't know what everyone else does (or doesn't do) that's so radically different from what I'm doing.

Mtns

Simonthepilgrim

Mountains wrote: »

It's bizarre. In my entire academic career, going back as far as I can remember, I've never actually *failed* a test. And I failed this one *really* well. It's not like I can say "Well, that was a bust, so now I'm going to...." - I don't have a clue what I can do differently than what's given me great success in the past, and I don't know what everyone else does (or doesn't do) that's so radically different from what I'm doing.

Mtns

Dear friend,

My condolences on your loss and in your mourning for the wound to what is so dear to you, whether that is a justified pride or hollow vanity. I remember the first exam I failed, failed completely, which was essential for my progressing to the next level. I remember my incredulity and that of my parents and peers. The ignominy of a retake three months later, in a classroom with those of my year who were clearly my intellectual inferiors (although, by and large, more socially successful)! And then scraping through.

An early experience of failure, particularly after a winning streak, is very painful. It is also formative, even transformative.

May you find happiness here and now, and the seeds of happiness in the here-and-now.

Mountains

Thanks Simon I've been licking my wounds and reformulating my plans. We'll see how it goes..

Mtns

Simonthepilgrim

Mountains wrote: »

It didn't seem to work. ..............

Didn't seem to work? How can you tell yet? The most productive outcome for you as a unique individual has certainly not worked itself out yet. Whatever the grade. it is an opportunity. Maybe you just haven't seen the new opportunities yet.

Mountains

Unfortunately in this case it comes down to points. If I don't get enough points (in total) in this course, it will spell trouble for me. I have complete confidence that I will achieve what I need to achieve though. As was famously never said by Apollo flight director Gene Kranz, "Failure is not an option."

Mtns

mugzy

Maybe you could talk to your professor about what you can do to improve your test scores or ways to increase your points.

zidangus

Mountains wrote: »

Can everyone who is willing and able please say a little prayer for me (or six..) for my upcoming first exam in physiology this coming Friday morning? I'm so utterly overwhelmed with information, formulas, etc, etc that I honestly feel, for the first time in my academic life, like I stand a very good chance of failing the exam. I've never failed an exam in my life. In fact, I've never had less than a C on an exam, and that only rarely. I'm completely humbled by this, so I'll take any and all help I can muster. My brain is mush...

Thanks all!

Mtns

Hi Mountains, I have been there and got the T-Shirt, I put so much pressure on myself that it felt like it will be the end of the world if I didnt do well in my exams. Well trust me it isnt the end of the world, just do your best. I had a couple of stinkers as far as university exams are concerened and it really did feel like the ground from underneath me was taken away, but that soon passes, and common sense begins to kick in again. The results cost me a PhD studentship at a top university, but I ended up getting one at a smaller university and I never looked back, it turned out to be a great move for me. At the end of the day as I said earlier you can only do your best and whatever happens just accept it don't let it keep you down and as the saying goes always look on the bright side of life.

Metta to all sentient beings

Simonthepilgrim

Life goes on, even without degrees, and, at the end, we die by degrees.

Mountains

Thanks Zidangus. I'm 48, and I can definitely tell a difference in my ability to comprehend and (more importantly) retain information compared to ten years ago. What used to come easily comes with much, much more effort now, if it comes at all. The program I'm in has been described as *the* hardest thing any of us will ever do, and I fully believe it. After today I'm feeling very much that I'm in way over my head...

Mtns