Test anxieties

It is almost surreal to walk out of an exam and simultaneously become certain of failure. There’s nothing quite like it. Posture falls. Trudging begins. Slowly, a haunting realization creeps up your spine. The all-nighter you just pulled was entirely for naught. All seems lost.

After drowning the sorrows with rationalizations, booze, sexual encounters or any other inappropriate remedy, we all get over it. Just like the obnoxious drunk alone at the bar, that D minus doesn’t look so bad after a few shots.

While no one likes the feeling of bombing a midterm, there is a type of painful catharsis hidden in the occasional ritual of removing it from memory.

This inevitable purging of emotions, however, does not give professors, teaching assistants and instructors free reign to create exams that are meant to be taken, struggled with and epically failed.

It seems everyone has shared the experience of a professor whose pride is determined by how dishearteningly difficult and ridiculously curved his or her course is.

Call it my own naiveté, but I cannot wrap my mind around the appeal of an abysmally low class average. Nevertheless, since a rational human being does not act unless there is some personal incentive involved, there has to be some reason that explains the existence of such confounding coursework.

Does a professor gain more funding with lower scores? Maybe there is greater educational merit in a question of definitional semantics rather than one that covers necessary ideas central to the subject matter. Or perhaps, the mental and emotional subjugation of the students is just a manifestation of hidden professorial conquistadorism.

Regardless of the true motivation, I cannot fathom how such a teaching strategy can possibly benefit students. Sure, it may come as a relief that my 45 percent ends up being a passing score. But let’s not forget the inordinate amount of stress caused in the first place.

Maybe low midterm scores are supposed to motivate me to come to class and study harder. However, if this is the case, there’s nothing I like more than wasting days preparing for an unwinnable battle.

Please understand, I am not asking for answers served on a silver platter. I am not demanding tests as easily navigable as a two-turn maze. Moreover, I am not spitting on the charity of curving. After all, nothing is better than when that 88 percent gets bumped up to an A.

All I am searching for is the happy medium. I don’t care if it’s a scantron or blue book. Make the exams challenging, but make them fair. Even set up a few trick questions. Just please, for the love of god, do not set us up for failure.


E-mail: smech@indiana.edu