To prepare for a test

Final exam: Useful strategies

You will be video recorded by the college in the exam room for the duration of the test.
The exams are numerically ordered, you are not allowed to move them.
Students must remain in the same seat registered by the scanner. A student who changes place is automatically disqualified.
The final exam is 3 hours long.
If you are more than one hour late, you are not allowed to take the exam.
You can go to the restroom. However, you must ask permission from your teachers or exam invigilators. Also, any lost time cannot be recovered.
You can finish and submit your exam at any time, one hour after the exam starts. In this case, you are free to leave the room.
15 min before the end of the exam you are not allowed to quit the room; you have to remain seated until the end of the exam.

Student's ID card (Dawson).
Small ruler.
Non-programmable scientific calculator.
2-3 Pencils with pencil sharpener + eraser.
Mechanical pencil with extra cartridge.
The exam can completely be answered in pencil, no need to write your final answer in pen.
No pencil cases or calculator covers are allowed on the table. Any additional equipment is placed under your chair.
You can bring a bottle of water as long as it does not have a label.

Begin studying (revision) at least a week before the exam. You will remember much more if you study several times than if you "cram" the night before.
You did all the assigned problems (see course outline) and understand them? Then consider yourself prepared!
Set-up all your "exam desk stuff" the night before the exam in a Ziploc © bag.
3 hours is enough to complete the exam. Before the exam, take a deep breath, take a short walk, clear up your mind & relax...

Be there early! Come in advance. This way you won't be stressed by the possibility (frequent) of a bus/subway service outage.
The exam always starts and ends on time and no extra time is never allowed for a final exam.
The examination room is very large. Choose a location with minimal distractions and where you can clearly see the clock. First come, first served.
There is a clock in the room for accurate timekeeping.
Wear clothes that are comfortable and that can adapt to an important change of temperature (e.g. Have a pull on a T-shirt). In a room of 800 students with high ceilings, the temperature is unpredictable.

1- Do a Brain dump

Once the signal to start is given, write your name and student number on the first and second pages of the exam.
Remove the last page of the exam (periodic table & table of data) flip it and do a ″Brain dump″
Write any important information that you will need for the exam which is not printed on the exam; you cannot trust your memory to work at 100% efficiency.
Once the information is out of your head, you do not have to worry about remembering it (less stressful).
Example of a "brain dump" from students at the final exam.

2- Do a "fly-through": Start your exam by first reading all the questions (without answering them).

You want to map out the overall content and organization of the exam and you will gain a sense of where you are likely going to need the most time or energy.
Read each question and make a ″star″ beside any question that you already know how to solve.
Do not feel intimidated by the size of the exam. 3 hours allows you to do a lot more than you think and some questions are shorter than they seem.

3- Manage your time

You have 3 hours to complete the exam: 180 min/100 mark (roughly, 100 s/mark). Therefore, a 3 marks question should be answered in 300 s or 5 min.
Every time you go over this time on a problem, that time has to come out from other problem.

4- Start your exam by first answering the high mark ″star″ questions (the ones you know).

It will help you to build confidence and you will get ahead on time leaving more time to manage difficult questions.
Make sure you "correctly" understand the question. A single word can change the meaning of a sentence. Ask your teacher (present at the exam) if anything is unclear – they are there to help you.
Multiple choice question: cover up the possible answers before you read the question and then choose the response which best fits your answer.
When in doubt, trust your first guess.
All the exam can be written in pen (and erased), so you can change your mind.
The teacher will be keeping the exam in his office for a year.

Always get a good night of sleep before the exam and eat well.
Allow yourself plenty of time before the exam and come to the College early: take a coffee and relax.
Avoid students before the exam who might distract you (unprepared, negative attitude, etc.).
Approach this exam with confidence.

Never answer the question in the order presented by the document. (Ex: No. 1, 2, 3, . . . and so on).
No time to waste: Difficult question... move on and come back later. Sometime the solution will ″pop-up″ by itself.

Good luck!