The Post Exam Possum
I saw this post at Barely Legal, detailing "the possum." The possum is a person who pretends to be afraid of their ability to do well on exams, but has in actuality meticulously prepared.
I'd like to respond to this. I am somewhat of a post-exam possum. I tend to think I did poorly on most of my exams. Why? There are several reasons. First and foremeost, I genuinely feel as though most of my exams have gone horribly. The person who thinks they spotted every issue is fooling themselves. Nobody spots all of the issues. If you think the exam was too easy, you probably missed something important. Secondly, even if you feel like you nailed it, and even if it truly were an easy exam, it was most likely easy for everyone, which means that ridiculously insignificant errors will have a profound effect on your grade because the curve will be so tight. Finally, there is no upside to being a braggart. If you tell everyone that you think you've got it all down before, or after an exam, you're asking for karma to kick you right square in the testes. If you say you did well, you'll look like a jackass when you get your B-, but if you say you did poorly and you get a B-, it was expected.
Part of it is making everyone feel better... There seems to be an unspoken social consensus that it is inappropriate to talk about grades if you did really well. If you do well, when you tell someone you must temper it with a self-deprecating remark, or tell people that grades in general are "arbitrary" or "ultimately meaningless." Only the class asshole tells everyone how great they did, especially since the year isn't over yet, and the tables can easily turn. This carries over into exam week, some people know that they shat the bed on a final. The last thing they want to hear is for some a-hole who has no clue if he just got an A or a C on an exam to come out of the room and tell them how easy it was.
Part of it is making yourself feel better. If you tell yourself to expect to see a 2.667 when you check your grades, then you'll be ecstatic when you get a 3.1, however if you've talked to everyone in your section about how easy the exam was, and generally convinced yourself that you're going to do really well, you'll feel and look like a jackass when you get your 3.1.
The best way to approach exams is probably just to avoid talking about your preparation, your chances of doing well/poorly, what you got for the second essay, whether you talked about the commerce clause pre-1937 vs. after Lopez, or anything of that sort. However, for most of us its impossible, I can't take a 4 hour exam, and then NOT talk about it for at least an hour afterwards... It's not reassurance I'm seeking, it's a sort of decompression/stress release thing. I can't explain it, I feel better after rehashing it... and since I need to rehash it, I may as well do it in the way that makes me look the least like a douchebag.
I'd like to respond to this. I am somewhat of a post-exam possum. I tend to think I did poorly on most of my exams. Why? There are several reasons. First and foremeost, I genuinely feel as though most of my exams have gone horribly. The person who thinks they spotted every issue is fooling themselves. Nobody spots all of the issues. If you think the exam was too easy, you probably missed something important. Secondly, even if you feel like you nailed it, and even if it truly were an easy exam, it was most likely easy for everyone, which means that ridiculously insignificant errors will have a profound effect on your grade because the curve will be so tight. Finally, there is no upside to being a braggart. If you tell everyone that you think you've got it all down before, or after an exam, you're asking for karma to kick you right square in the testes. If you say you did well, you'll look like a jackass when you get your B-, but if you say you did poorly and you get a B-, it was expected.
Part of it is making everyone feel better... There seems to be an unspoken social consensus that it is inappropriate to talk about grades if you did really well. If you do well, when you tell someone you must temper it with a self-deprecating remark, or tell people that grades in general are "arbitrary" or "ultimately meaningless." Only the class asshole tells everyone how great they did, especially since the year isn't over yet, and the tables can easily turn. This carries over into exam week, some people know that they shat the bed on a final. The last thing they want to hear is for some a-hole who has no clue if he just got an A or a C on an exam to come out of the room and tell them how easy it was.
Part of it is making yourself feel better. If you tell yourself to expect to see a 2.667 when you check your grades, then you'll be ecstatic when you get a 3.1, however if you've talked to everyone in your section about how easy the exam was, and generally convinced yourself that you're going to do really well, you'll feel and look like a jackass when you get your 3.1.
The best way to approach exams is probably just to avoid talking about your preparation, your chances of doing well/poorly, what you got for the second essay, whether you talked about the commerce clause pre-1937 vs. after Lopez, or anything of that sort. However, for most of us its impossible, I can't take a 4 hour exam, and then NOT talk about it for at least an hour afterwards... It's not reassurance I'm seeking, it's a sort of decompression/stress release thing. I can't explain it, I feel better after rehashing it... and since I need to rehash it, I may as well do it in the way that makes me look the least like a douchebag.
posted by Snubligent at 9:55 PM
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