dragonbook

43 UNIT VII SPITTING BACK WHAT THEY’VE SPIT AT YOU: STUDYING FOR EXAMS In his Surely Your Joking, Professor Feynman, Richard Feynman describes his experiences in an undergraduate philosophy class, a class he found boring and incomprehensible. The professor tended to mumble, and Feynman says that all he heard was “Uguwugah. Uguwugah. Uguwugha.” Feynman spent his class time putting holes in his shoe with a small hand drill. Then, one day, Feynman noticed that the other students were really excited about something. What was it? Well, it seems that the students were going to have to do a take-home essay exam. On what? Well, the on what the professor had been talking about all semester. Panic time, yes? But Feynman managed to save the situation, not only getting an “A” on the assignment, but having the pleasant surprise of listening to the professor read his essay to the class as an example of good student work. Now there are going to be times in college where all you’ve been hearing is Uguwugah. Uguwugah. Uguwugah. It may be the because of a mumbling professor. It may because you don’t enough background to make sense of the lectures. Or maybe you’re just overwhelmed with all the things that are being thrown at you at the same time. Now suppose you’re confronted with a situation like this—with a class that, at least some of the time, doesn’t make much sense to you. What do you at exam time when you absolutely have to pull it all together, when you have absolutely have to make sense of a class? Here’s Ancient Art’s no-guarantee guide to doing your best on exams: PART I—GENERAL ADVICE 1. Don’t panic—or, rather, use panic constructively. Remember that nervousness/fear is God’s gift to you. Whenever something is really important to us, adrenaline pours through our systems. Used correctly, that nervous energy helps us to do our very best.