Professors-Graduate School Exams-Help!!!?

Question

I know I'm repeating this question somewhat, but it's because I don't believe my original question will ever be answered at this point (4 days old).

This is mostly for professors on this board (I know there are some). I'm a first year math graduate student at UCLA and I have a very frustrating problem. I know the material very well in pretty much all areas, but I don't seem to test very well. It's a very irritating problem because professors seem to only be impressed by exam scores, and so all my work seems to be going to waste because it's not showing up on the inclass exams.

So I guess my question is this: Did any of you have this problem in graduate school? If so, what did you do to correct it (or did you have to)? I really need some advice on this because I don't know what else to try.

And for profs in general, what's a good way other than exams to impress you? I would think being knowledgeable is the way, but I'm afraid with how my exams go it may not be.

Thanks!!

Answer 1

Speaking as a professor who teaches math as one of my subjects, I can tell you that I've had a number of students in your position. In class, they demonstrate to me their mastery of the material through discussions and exercises, but yet on exams, they simply "blow it."

Unfortunately, it's true that there are some professors out there who's only grading criteria is a midterm and/or final, so you essentially get 1 or 2 chances to do well. NOT the case in my classes. My final grades include a combination of exam scores, in-class exercises, discussions, and homeworks, so it's possible to compensate in one area by doing well in another.

Welcome to college! As professors, we are free to grade as we see fit, and some are more strict than others. My own philosophy in the classroom is to award students the grades that I feel they've earned. If a student demonstrates to me that they really do know their stuff, but simply botch exams, I don't punish them. While I do have to be fair to everyone in the class, I do try my best to give each student the grade that I honestly feel they've earned. Doing otherwise only does them a true disservice!

Now there are a number of reasons why students do poorly on exams while doing well on other things. First and foremost is the nervous factor. There's pressure to answer a bunch of unknown questions within a given timeframe, which is naturally frustrating. And I've had students who I've sent to our disability office because I felt they might have something called test anxiety, which is a disorder resulting in extreme angst and anxiety under pressure and exams. Usually, a more quiet environment and/or extra time solves this problem and those students do much better.

Another factor could be cramming. Many students stay up for long hours the night or two before the exam, and then show up tired. This causes the brain to work slower and/or your mind to wander. Getting plenty of rest the night before your exam will definitely improve your chances of doing well!

It could also be a result of over-studying. In other words, going over the same thing over and over again, when you clearly know it already will tend to push out other things that you might not know so well. My advice here is to focus most of your efforts on the areas where you're struggling most, while including some things from the areas you already know. And study in chunks rather than doing it all in one sitting. We learn much better when information is bundled in spirts!

Answer 2

That is the sucky part of grad school: you either make it or you don't. My best friend recently dropped out of the UCLA math graduate program because she failed her quals for the fifth or sixth time and she decided to give up. All her professors liked her (she's a charmer) and she got decent grades even tho she wasn't doing very well on her tests. But ultimately she couldn't make it because she didn't have what it takes to pass the quals.