Exams

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I apologise greatly if this has been spoken about, before.

I have just recently had to take my Semester One TEE (I am not sure of what the international equivalent of that is, but I think it might be SAT?) exams, and had a bit of difficulty with them. The teacher had a heater going in the classroom, and I'd got quite used to the low noise that it was making, but then, when it reached the room's temperature, and switched itself off, the lack of its quiet hum was almost like a motor being switched off inside of my head! I found it quite difficult to concentrate, especially as the quiet resulting from the silence of the heater revealed many little, distractive and unexpected sounds! I was lucky to only have to sit the first exams with two other people, though.

So, I was wondering if anyone else here could perhaps relate any of their own experiences with such things. It would be really interesting to see how everyone else might have felt in similar situations!

Again, I'm very sorry if this has been brought up previously. Thank you for reading!

I think this is an intersting topic!

I don't have much to add though. I do know that *some* accomidations can be made when sitting for the SAT if one plans ahead of time. Also, I ended up protoring an exam like that once. One student was off on his own---it had to be an accomindation.

BeeBee

I feel the same way you do, Alli, but I always try my hardest.

Hey, which exams, Alli? I remember doing my TEE. My mother got me an extra half hour for exams, which I did in a room by myself, and if my exam results were worse than my Year in-school grade, they considered my autism and scaled the TEE exams accordingly.
If you get distracted a lot, you can ask for special compensations. Extra time, separate room etc. This can be really helpful especially for end of year TEE exams, which give you a TER score. Luckily, TER exams are in Summer, and you won't need a heater
To get the considerations, you need to be diagnosed. Your school should have information on the Curriculum Council and special needs requirements for exams. You have to apply to the Curriculum Council saying what considerations you need, why you need them, etc. You can ask to use a computer, extra time, periodic breaks, different room etc.
I did: English, Physics, Economics, Accounting and Applicable Maths.
English, Economics and Accounting were the worst. You had to write a bunch of essays etc, and my autism really interfered. I also get hand cramps after only about a page of writing. I hate handwriting, lol
Was the one with only 2 other people Calculus? In my school, there were only 3 people doing that, too, heh. The week off before exams rocks, though at my school you had to rock up to school. The bonus was our ball was held on the Friday at the end of the exam week. Bonus for NT's, that is, lol. I spent my ball playing with hot wax and debating philosophy with my favorite teacher. No after-ball party for me.

I have two exams tomorrow, and have been studying all day.

Good Luck!! !

Thank you, pizzaboss

I can do ok with exams assuming that they are short and there's not to much distraction going on around me. One thing I don't care for too much in the college environment is that on test day, it's do your test and leave. When people start getting to turn in their tests and leave, my anxiety level starts to go up from people milling about in the class. I start to loose the ability to stay focused on the test and it becomes very hard for me to go on. I can still finish the test, but I really need to put 110% effort into it as things such as my thought process and comprehension go out the window when the anxiety begins to build.

I'm glad I'm not alone, then. In our classes, people tend to make little noises, like turning pages of the exam, punching numbers into their calculators, etc (most things "normal" people wouldn't even notice) and it takes me about a minute or two each time I get distracted to turn my attention back to the exam.

Take home exams are much better.

Accounting was the best, cause it was taught by my favorite teacher. I'd play chess with him during recess and lunch in the library. A couple of times at the end of year 11, he brought chess sets into the accounting class and we would play, heh. I also liked Physics. Our teacher would let us muck around so long as we passed. My friends invented a much larger version of connect 4 to play, which could have up to 4 simultaneous players, and wasn't bound to building up from the base. They even created a little Title Belt the winner would get. They all stopped playing once I joined and started winning. I haven't seen them since the end of year 12. I never was one for extracurriculur socialising.
The importance of exams depend on what you want to do after school. You'd be planning to go to university, yes? Year 11 is really just base classes for year 12 subjects. Got to have a good foundation, yes? But really, so long as you know your subject, the Year 11 end grade counts nothing towards your TER at the end of year 12. Its more like practice for next year. If you had problems with it this year, you'll really want to have some of those considerations for your TER exams next year. Because your school is so small, you will have to sit your exams at another school, in a room with a lot more than 5 other students.
If I might ask, what category did you fall under to end up at your current school? Do you like it at school? For your pen-holding problem, have you tried those contour-grip pens? You can get pens molded in the shape in which you're supposed to hold it. Kind of like Ergonomic computer chairs.
Btw, the ball WAS mucho fun debating philosophy with my teacher. A mosh pit really isn't my cup of tea. I'm guessing your school doesn't have a ball or social events? That's a pity. Do you have a bunch of people at school you hang around? Even a bunch of friends who just don't get annoyed at you hanging around is better than noone at all.
Anyway, hey, you haven't said what subjects YOU are studying yet *tickle*. What subjects are you studying, which ones do you like? Do you plan to go to university? What to study?
I notice you have a T.S. quote as your signature. You like poetry and/or philosophy? You must do if you think it would be fun The only TS I've read is that Narnia stuff. My mum was a strict religious person. For some reason, she wouldn't even let us read Heidi! Oh, wait, Narnia is CS isn't it? This is my favorite poem, William Blake, the only one of his I know, lol:

PS. Sorry about the long post.

Thank you, Alli. I think I passed both exams I took today.

Hiya, Danlo. That game sounds really enjoyable! Connect 4 with up to four players!
I am hoping to get into a university. I'll have to see how things go. I'm a little unclear on how it all works, but what you've written in regards to Year 11 has been a great help! Thank you yet again!
I'd been to a whole lot of different schools, because I just felt really uncomforable in the mainstream environment, and people who picked up on this discomfort usually tended to tease a bit! But nothing major. Eventually I was just having more and more time off of school, so someone referred me to my current one. I really do like this school, because it's usually very quiet, and the teachers are great. I'm allowed to hang out in a classroom with one of my teachers at recess and lunch, so I don't have to go out when it's noisy. *giggle*
I've not heard of those pens! I'll have to look into them. That would be really helpful!
Our school doesn't hold anything like a ball or social events. I don't really hang around with anyone, but I'm really fine with that - still, from what I can gather, all of the students seem very friendly!
I'm studying English Lit., Human Biology, History, Art, and Geography. I don't have a proper Maths subject, but apparently the Human Biol. will count as that. Or something - I'm not really sure! I know I'm pretty much braindead when it comes to mathematics, though. My favourite subject would have to be English, and perhaps History. I'd really like to study Art History, but that's only very briefly covered in the TEE Art classes.
I most certainly do like poetry and philosophy, both. That poem is gorgeous! I've not actually read a lot of William Blake's, so I hadn't heard of it before. It's great! Thanks for sharing it!

P.S. - Larsenjw92286, I'm glad that you think you passed!

You are indeed correct, Human Biology does count so that you don't have to do a mathematics subject. You don't even have to get a special pen. You can get an item that sits around the pen, and hold it that way. Its used all the time to help left-handed students hold the pen correctly. Hey, anythings cool so long as you like it, right? What do you do in the classroom during lunch?
Blake is a good poet, but he was a madman, lol. He wrote prophecies and basically thought of himself as God. Many of his poems have an element of the divine, ascribing some aspect of God. I like that poem because of the way it describes the beauty even in something like a killer tiger, yes? Beautiful and fierce.

If you'd like, I'll give you a rundown of how the TEE works:
TEE subjects are broken down into 2 lists; you must take at least one from each list, one of which must be an english subject. You must also take at least 4 TEE subjects. If you don't meet this, you can't get a Tertiary Entrance Score (TES).
In Year 12, some of the TES is gotten from your end-of-year results. If you do well in Year 12 but go bad in the TES exams, they assume you have been given easy marks, and actually reduce the mark you got in school. Do well in TES but bad in Year 12, they assume you've been harshly graded, and increase that mark. 50% of your TES comes from Year 12, 50% from the TES exams.
Your TES gets averaged out, so if you do 5 subjects, you get both a 4-subject average and a 5-subject average. The higher average is the one taken to calculate your Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER). A TER is your position relative to the other Year 12 TEE students. TER of 75.00 means you scored higher than 75% of other TEE students.
Basically, you decide what you want to study at university, you get the prerequisite subjects you must complete at Year 12 level, and then you get the pre-requisite Year 11 subjects for those Year 12 subjects. Simple, no?