My First Midterm

Unfortunately, my first midterm was not my best work. Upon reflection, there were many contributing factors to my final score. The first of which being is that I was not concerned with the time parameters. Throughout my high school experience, I had never taken any timed exams aside from the SAT. The teachers that I had were incredibly gracious and would let those who did not finish their exam come after school so that they could finish it. As a result, I never learned how to work under pressure in an exam setting.

When it came time to take my MATH 124 midterm, I did not realize how much pressure I would be under, not only due to the time constraints, but also due to the sheer weight of the exam on my final grade. During the midterm, I was crippled by testing anxiety. I could not remember the things that I had learned. I made simple mistakes. I also did not have enough time to begin to approach parts of certain problems. I have never suffered from such extreme testing anxiety before, so I was not sure how to combat it.

Despite this, I do feel that I applied the proper test taking techniques. I was in an environment in which I could focus. I also had prepared my permitted "cheat sheet" with information that I knew I would need on the exam. I made sure to approach the easiest problem types first and to save the hardest problem types for last.

My second midterm is coming up. I feel that I am more prepared, as I know what to expect. I have also taken the time to look at past exams and attend structured study sessions. I also attended a workshop about managing test anxiety. I have practiced using some of the techniques mentioned in the workshop so that if I do start to feel very anxious, I can use some of those techniques.

Below is a more detailed reflection that I wrote for the course:

MATH 124 Midterm1 Reflection.pdf

Download PDF • 580KB