University of Virginia Library

The Exam Game

No matter how many times you go
through them, exams are never pleasant. From
first-year men who are just learning about
sweat to fourth-year men who have been
through it many times before but can never
quite get comfortable about taking them,
students in all schools are faced in the next
week or two with the exercises that will
largely determine academic success or failure
for the semester; the mere thought is enough
to send anyone's brain into a state of shock.

And that's the whole trouble with exams;
it's not how much you know, it's how well
you can present it that determines your grade.
Inevitably, people who have attended classes
faithfully, been scrupulous in carrying out
assignments and who therefore ought to do
well on the final will allow their brains to go
into shock, blow the exam and wind up with a
final grade that doesn't reflect the effort
they've put into the course. In the jargon, this
is known as taking pipe.

Just as inevitably, there will be students
whose attendance has been such that they can
barely remember which room the class is held
in; their books have lain unopened since the
midterm. Beginning a couple of days before
the test, they'll borrow a friend's notes, skim
through the reading material, perhaps check
out the poodah and somehow pull a B or an A
out of the course. This technique is known as
the successful finesse.

Students who have a tendency to take pipe
often come to regard those who can
successfully finesse as either lucky or unfair
competitors. This is not really the case. The
two breeds are merely competing in two
different games which, for simplicity's sake,
(and because fulfillment of the Math requirement
taught us to think in such terms) we
will call Game X and Game Y. The goal of
Game X is solely to maximize knowledge;
students who play Game Y, on the other
hand, apply themselves to achieving the
highest possible grade for the least amount of
learning.

Students who master the techniques of
Game X often fail miserably to implement the
skills required by Game Y, and that failure
leads the University, through its grading
procedure, to interpret their skills as mediocre;
Game X player's success in fulfilling the
avowed goal of his education, the assimilation
of knowledge, is generally of but slight
consolation when his grades are sent home.
On the other hand, students who establish the
goal of grade maximization and thus achieve
mastery of the techniques of Game Y
generally have happy deans and parents; most
of them feel that their Dean's List status is
well worth the occasional painful moments of
critical introspection when they realize that
they are not really learning a hell of a lot.
Game Y players take comfort in the
knowledge that while learning may prepare
them to be intellectuals, success in Game Y
prepares them to be intellectuals, success in
Game Y prepares them to be what American
society considers a "success."

Students who dabble heavily in the
University's peripheral activities, be they
social or extra-curricular, are usually forced to
become at least moderately proficient Game
Y players. (If they do not, they are faced with
the prospect of being transferred to an
entirely different sphere of activity known as
the Army. Members of the Army, we are told,
play games analogous to Games X and Y; the
goals of these games reportedly, are either to
maximize valor and service or to maximize life
expectancy . . . but we digress.) Game Y
players are human. They feel guilty when they
study their roommate's notes and wind up
with a better grade than his. If only the
roommates of the world could become
proficient at both games! It really isn't that
difficult to do - the techniques are relatively
simple. Just remember that Game Y requires
that you attempt to get the greatest possible
grade mileage out of every fact learned and
follow these helpful hints:

Resign yourself to the fact that you
can't hope to retain everything taught in the
course. You will have to be selective in what
you attempt to learn or review.

Don't ignore the rather obvious hints
that every instructor drops regarding subject
matter likely to be stressed. If his lectures
never covered subject matter required in the
reading or he was unenthusiastic when he
talked about a particular segment of the
course, forget about it, especially if the exam
will allow you to choose the questions you
wish to answer. Be able to say something
intelligent about the limited number of points
he did stress; he will be sure to reward you by
asking heavily weighted questions about them.
You have a limited amount of time. Wise use
of it demands that you prepare yourself with
the knowledge of the greatest potential value.

- Many courses are built on a foundation
consisting of one, or at most several, key
theories. Concentrate on mastering these and
don't worry about the reams of explanatory
data. Rely on your native intelligence and
general knowledge to build on the abstract
framework you've mastered. Economics
courses are especially susceptible to this
approach.

- Take advantage of the flexibility of most
essay questions. If you're faced with a
question that seems to ask for information
you know little or nothing about, don't try to
shovel your way out with a vague answer. Any
grader can spot this and may well feel that in
trying to get one past him, you have displayed
a low regard for his intelligence. Feeling
insulted, he will hurt you. Rather, try to twist
the question around so that it can be
answered with something you do know. (This
is quite a bit more subtle.) And, even if the
grader realizes what you're doing, you will
probably rack up points just for saying
something intelligent. You may even make
him think that the question you answered
should have been on the exam in place of the
asked.

- One of your paramount goals ought to
be to take a clear mind, capable of
improvising, into the exam with you. If you
can pop pills, stay up all night, and still be
mentally agile in the morning, go ahead an do
so. If you can't (and if you aren't sure, assume
you can't) you'll be better off getting some
rest.

- It's counter-productive to attempt more
than one consecutive all-nighter with the aid
of amphetamines. Even if the drug keeps your
body functioning, your mind will be too tired
to effectively assimilate anything. Keep in
mind, however, that two or three hours of
sound sleep can be almost as valuable as a
time-consuming eight hour slumber.

Perhaps the single most valuable ability
of the successful Game Y player is his ability
to maintain his cool, thereby allowing himself
to devote all of his capacities to an efficient
attack on the task at hand. Successful
athletes, for example, almost always have this
attitude; the thoughts of two of them are
shared by practically all successful Game Y
players. Early Wynn was pitcher who won 00
major league ball games with little more than
guts, good control, and a decent slider. His
laconic advice to young pitchers: "Don't
sweat the small stuff." It will help if you
realize that, in the final analysis, any one
course or exam amounts only to small stuff.
Similarly, Bob Mathias won the decathlon
gold medal, symbolic of the world's best
all-around athlete, in the 1948 Olympics when
he was all of 17. While mature competitors
(Game X players, however) were suffering
from the nerve-racking pressure and tension of
Olympic competition, Mathias took nap in
between events, conserving his energy and
concentration for his performance. As he put
it, "You don't get any points for worrying."

Nor do you get any points for worry about
exams.