 Hey, you guys. So it's the time of the semester that we're starting to give exams. And I figured I'm giving exams this week in all of my classes, so I figured it's probably a good time to post up and record a video on how to think about an exam and how to hopefully maximize your success and performance on an exam. Before we even begin, I've got a little statement up here, and I think it's really important. It's an acknowledgement of the fact that already you rock. Now think about that for a second. If you're in one of my classes, whether it's an online class or a face-to-face class, I already know you rock. Like, I know what you're doing. You're working super hard. You're participating in all the crazy things that we do in rig-style classes, and you're probably putting in lots and lots and lots of hours outside of class. So I already know, dude, you rock. If you're not in a rigs class and you're watching this video, I'm sorry, you rock. Like, you totally already are like doing your classwork, and then you're coming and you're like watching these lectures from this crazy lady, and that's all happening on your own time. Because, well, why? Why would you do this to yourself? It's because you want to learn the material. Well, here's the thing. The fact is that because you already rock, ultimately you're preparing for an exam, and I've thought a lot about, like, dude, what the heck is going on with an exam? Why do we do this to our students? Because exams cause a significant amount of anxiety, and it's real simple. My whole job as an educator is to make it so you learn something. That's my whole job. And how do I know if I was successful? I mean, this is really the ultimate question. Did you learn anything in my class? I have a fantasy. Let me tell you about my fantasy. I have a fantasy that someday I'll have a little machine, a little something, something like this. I'll be able to hook things up to your brain, and I'll push a button and a printout will emerge that will tell me what you actually learned in my class. And from that, I can assign you a grade because you either... And at any point, you can check yourself to see, like, what you need to work on and what you actually know and what you don't know. It'd be brilliant. It would save us all a tremendous amount of time and probably a tremendous amount of anxiety, and it's not there yet. I don't have a machine that I can hook up to your brain to figure out how much you learned. And so I have to do the next thing, whether that's even close to remotely effective. I gave you an exam. The whole point of my exams is to find out what you know. If you've been studying, which we've already established, actually, we've already established that you rock. So all an exam is is data, evidence to confirm that you're doing this work and you're learning what you need to learn for this class. That's all it is. So there are three things that we're going to talk about. There are three aspects of preparing yourself to find out, like, the answer to this question. Look, did you learn? That's our goal. That's what we want to know. So there are three things. There are three tasks that you have to learn and to prepare for showing me whether or not you learned. First of all, check them out. You've got to participate in the class because you're here, you're probably already participating. You've got to read the textbook chapters that are assigned to you. You've got to watch the video lectures that you are required to watch. You have to go to lectures or watch them online and take notes. Then you have to participate in any classroom activities or quizzes or homework assignments that you are getting or labs that you are given. You actually do the work of the class, right? And hopefully that's already done. I am going to say something about participation. It's not going through the motions. So participating fully means your brain is engaged. You're willing to get in there. You're willing to get messy. When Riggs asks you to do some interpretive dance of a skeletal muscle contraction, you do it, and you attempt to process the things that she's asking you to process. Does that make you happy in my YouTube students that you're not in my class so you don't have to do a skeletal muscle contraction interpretive dance? Step one in learning is making sure you're participating. Step two is prepping. Prepping for an exam, and that is studying. So strategies for studying? Dude, you got to have note cards. You got to target the things that you need to practice. You got to study every day in these hard biology classes. If you're trying to pull it off two times a week, maybe a couple hours on the weekend, like you're just not going to, that's not enough time. You have to be willing to put in the time, and it's more effective if you do, you contact the material every day. You got to talk about the stuff. Now, whether you're talking to yourself, which I do all the time, or talking to a friend in the class, or Skyping with something, or whatever, explaining things to your dog, or your cat, or your kid, somehow you have to be engaging with your words. You have to be talking about things. I believe that you have to create stuff. You have to build something to really be studying well. You know, you all have done this, where you sit down with a textbook. Okay, I'm going to read the textbook. I'm going to study, and I'm going to read the chapter. And you are like, at the end of the page, you read the whole thing. You were there. Your eyes were moving. Like, you were totally reading the words, and you get to the end, and you're like, uh, I got nothing. Like, did I even read that? Because I couldn't tell you a thing that I actually read. It's not a very effective process, right? So instead of just reading it, write some notes, draw some pictures, annotate the text, actively get in there, and circle things, and ask questions, and go look stuff up. Like, build something. Make something while you're studying. And then the other thing that is helpful, I think, when you're thinking about the studying process, I think, especially as you get closer to your exam, I think it's really helpful to prioritize. Most humans who take these hard classes, biology, anatomy, physio, micro, these things are not for the weak at heart. Most people feel like they don't have enough time to really master all the content. This is totally normal. If you don't have enough time to master everything, then you're going to have to pick and choose what you're going to spend your time on. There's three kinds of content in your classes. There's the stuff you already know. Please do not study that. If you already know it, cross it off the list and never look at it again. It's not worth your time to study the things that you already know. Maybe right before the exam, you flip through the things you already know and get your brain geared to remind yourself of how much you already know. But if you feel like, dude, yeah, I got this, do not study it anymore. It's a little controversial, but if you're in prioritize mode, so if you're picking and choosing what you just don't have enough time, if you look at something and you're like, I've never seen this before in my life. It's brand new. I got nothing. Don't study it. I'm assuming that you've been participating in the class fully. And if you have, then prioritizing to scrap the stuff that you have absolutely no understanding of, it's a good choice from a time management perspective that the time that it's going to take you to get up to speed with that could be spent studying the stuff that you've seen. You kind of get it. It needs a little more work. It needs some flash cars. And then you'll have it. That's where you want to focus your energy. You want to focus your energy on the stuff that you actually will be able to master by the time the exam comes along. Again, that strategy is going to backfire big time if you are not participating in the class, because if you're not participating, you're not going to be learning the stuff, and then everything is going to be fresh and brand new, and you're going to punt all that stuff, and there's no way you can be successful in the class in that case. All right. You've studied the last step, and this is really the whole point of why I wanted to record this video. The last step is actually performing on your exam, and so many students have anxiety when it comes to taking an exam. Very few students enter an exam environment with sort of a competitive, kind of excited, maybe not very few, but fewer people enter an exam excited to take it and see how they do then enter the exam feeling stressed about what they don't know and whether or not they're going to be able to perform. So some strategies for being successful in the exam. First of all, we got to manage that anxiety. It is not helpful. If you are in an exam and you are feeling stressed, so you are having a sympathetic nervous response. You got the sweat going on. You got the sweaty pits going on. Your heart rate is beating. Your hands are sweaty. If you're in that space, your brain, your analytical thinking skills are not able to function. That anxious space is prepping you to run away from a bear that's about to attack you. It's not prepping you to think deeply and thoughtfully and communicate clearly about knowledge that you've put in your head. If you can't manage the anxiety, you are starting right at the get-go to give yourself an enormous disadvantage. Let's go back to the first sentence right here, rah-er, you already rock. So let's not do, let's not put yourself at this huge disadvantage. You got to manage your time. Time is one of the biggest stressors in an exam, worrying that you're going to run out of time. If there are time constraints on your exam, you got to prioritize the questions. You got to look through the exam before you begin and you got to decide where should you put your time to get the most bang for your buck if you feel concerned that you might not be able to finish the whole thing. In my classes, I hate time constraints. So I will do everything I can to make sure that you have the time you need to actually finish the exam. In my online class, it's an hour-long exam. You have three hours to do it. In my face-to-face classes, I try to not schedule something after the exam so I can give you that extra time if you need it. It's really important to me to not have time constraints. You have to show me your thinking and you have to think. So whatever you have to do to communicate your thinking, please do. If you need a piece of scratch paper, by all means. If you want to write for the face-to-face examers, write on the exam. Write about your thinking. Why did you cross off that option in the multiple-choice exam? Write it down. Show evidence of the processing that you're doing in your brain because that sort of holds you accountable for doing that thinking. And then communicate that clearly. I feel like I already talked about communicating clearly. Did I talk about the writing? I don't... Oh, look, it's right here. Here's the time where I need to... If I already said this, I'm sorry. I've got some... When you write a response to a question, multiple-choice, that's a thing. Often in these hardcore classes, you have to also write explanations or descriptions or analyses of complex processes. I've got some words of advice for when you consider writing. When you're communicating, think about this. I'm looking for the perfect green. In a rigs class, writing is judged on whether or not it is concise, clear, precise, and correct. So think about those things. Concise. Dude, get to the point. Please, for all humans out there who are grading exams, do not use extra words if they are not necessary. Do not fill three pages with your explanation. If you could have done it in two paragraphs, please, I beg of you, get to the point. Say it clearly. Communicate your knowledge clearly. Make it easy on the greater to know exactly what you're trying to say. Use the right words. Be precise. Science is a language. Use the right words to describe what you're talking about. And make sure what you're describing is correct. If you do those four things, you will hit a home run on your short answer writing type questions. Now, a home run. Practice this. This is not easy. Writing concisely, clearly, precisely, and correctly is not easy. So you want to practice it. Those of you in human physiology, will get gobs of practice with the integration project because those are also the requirements for any writing assignment that you would do in my class. Okay, so that's all communicating your thinking. I'm going to clean house the cleanup hitter comment that I'm going to make is to... Let's think about a couple of strategies that might help reduce stress and sort of get you in a mindset to perform well on an exam. Start right now. Positive self-talk. Look, it's right here. You already rock. I know this about you. And some of you I don't even know. And I know you already rock. So make yourself some sticky notes and make them big and put them all over the heck in place and say, like, I'm a rock star. I'm studying hard. I'm learning this material. I'm able to process. I have a good brain. I'm doing this hard work. I'm capable. I'm going to reach my goals. Dude, I could go on all day long. With the exception of my YouTube students, I'd love to give you all personal pep talks, but if you're one of my face-to-face or online students and you need a pep talk, I'm the queen of pep talks. I love giving pep... those. My favorite part of teaching, helping people see that, yeah, you do already rock and I have confidence in your abilities, and so should you. How about the power pose? Don't minimize this thing. Like, stand up and take that Wonder Woman pose. Like, put your hands on your hips and stand tall. Put your arms up. Like, dude, I'm a rock star. Yeah. Do this kind of, like, I'm amazing because it actually changes your hormones. And those hormones that come out when you, like, get all fired up about how awesome you are, those help you think. They help you feel good about yourself and say what you already know. The growth mindset? I know that probably those of you who are my face-to-face students are probably sick of it, but don't get sick of it. The growth mindset is probably one of your biggest power tools in your learning and life toolbox. Growth mindset says, mistakes help me get better. Challenges give me additional skills. All failure teaches me lessons. Everything is about growth and ability and possibility. The fixed mindset says I'm dumb. If I get something correct, I was probably lucky. If I open my mouth, I'm probably going to figure out that I'm actually dumb. And I really can't do this. Fixed mindset? Get rid of it. Scrap it, flush it down the toilet. Done. You can change your mindset. People with a growth mindset do better on exams than people with a fixed mindset. Dude, done growth mindset. You'll get a better grade. This is one. This is like the only non-peptoky one. This is like an actual strategy for... I've had students do this. It's actually super fun for me because I like smelly things. Well, good smelly things. When you study, have something smelly, some significant smelly thing, like a certain kind of chapstick that you use for essential oil or something that you study with. You don't have that out any other time just when you're studying. And when you're studying, you're like super smart, and you're like doing all this good work, and you're doing all this good thinking, and then take it with you to your exam. Open that thing up, give it a sniff, and it will bring up the associations of how hard you've studied and how much you already know. Rumor has it that it's actually a relatively significant or helpful strategy, successful strategy. That's what I was looking for. How many hours was this test anxiety video? I do get rather verbose, and I do feel particularly fired up by this topic because I know how hard you're working and I know you already rock, and I really want you to be successful. Show what you know on that exam. Don't shoot yourself in the foot. Okay. If you're coming to take an exam with me, I'll see you and wish you good luck, and you can do this. And if you're not coming to take an exam with me, just know that I would be giving you a hug and a high five if I possibly could. All right, home dogs. Have fun on your exams, and bye-bye now.