So my first post here bemoaned some of the more egregious problems I have with law students, specifically, certain behaviors in class I find distasteful. (Refresh your memory here…and for the record, I’d like to add a rule to that post, stating that you should NOT shop for your sexy skivvies at Vicki’s Secret during class. Even if you think you’re hot, or are actually hot, it’s still tacky.)
Anyway. I think we should also discuss some finals-related decorum issues I have…
For the sake of honesty, I’d like to acknowledge that I’ve probably violated these rules myself. I make no warranties related to my behavior during finals. But anyway.
1. If you are doing a laptop exam, and your laptop breaks and the class has to wait for you, it’s fine. I’m okay with that. What I’m not okay with is the people who stroll in at 8:29 a.m. and then we all have to sit there and wait for you to click through the twelve hundred screens SofTest makes you click through. R-E-S-P-E-C-T, people. I want to be done with this class, and dammit, those five minutes KILL me every time.
2. This is a personal preference more than anything, but don’t walk out of the exam and immediately start discussing your answers. Especially if you’re smarter than me, because I already feel depressed enough after taking a four-hour test at the crack of dawn…I don’t need to hear that it was all a waste and I will fail quite yet. (Kidding. It’s more that I just don’t want to hear about it anymore, period.)
3. This one applies to proctors moreso than students, but I think decorum dictates that they should be pleasant in the stressful minutes leading up to the exam. I’ve had a few proctors that were pretty foul and shrieky, and I don’t appreciate the “PUTYOURBAGSATTHEFRONTOFTHEROOM, PEOPLE!” refrain starting twenty minutes before the exam. Be nice to us, proctors. We’re frail and vulnerable right now. (sniffle)
4. Let’s all resolve to try to find something else to talk about other than finals, okay? It’s hard, I know, since it’s what consumes us for at least three weeks, so by the last few days we can barely remember the feeling of sunshine and the smell of food not from a vending machine. But I think we’d all be a little happier if we didn’t discuss our misery (since it’s pretty much implied at this point) and talked about something–anything–but finals. Example: “Hey, Brie, what’s up?” Reply: “Oh, hey, not much, ummm (brain straining), I taught my cat to meow whenever he hears the word pizza!” And then a wonderful, non-finals-related conversation can blossom, and we’ll all be a little less miserable.
Propose your rules in the comments!
Steve Wieland
fsford
timhilton
smahieu
Morgan N. Engling
maryiowa
jaimiesuzi
jarens
kevinjames
brieanne
lcm
Andrew
sandista
enwinfield
5. Don’t get up and turn in your test if there are fewer than ten minutes remaining in the exam period. By that point everyone is rushing to finish, and you distract the whole class by strolling to the front of the room and then joyfully pack your bag and stomping out. You can wait ten minutes to leave, especially if it is to the benefit of those around you.
The worst was when I went to an exam last year and a girl in the room shouted to her friend on the otherside of the room, “Don’t forget rule so and so means this and rule so and so means that.” I wanted to scream SHUT UP as I had no idea what those rules were!
Here’s one I’ve been guilty of: wearing flip flops. As I went up and down the stairs and handed in my test, my footwear clicked…extremely annoying.
Has anyone else had the old guy who blows his nose and eats potato chips during the test?
I love the amount of sequels/running features on this blog, I think everyone should try for one.
Love that you used Estelle Winslow as the pic here.
i have to comment on the “no talking about the exam” pet peeve with a qualifier: agreed, some of us reach a saturation point with regards to particular class material; and overhearing someone prattle off their exam answers can prompt a dangerous rage.
that being said, many people need to communicate in order to cope with stress, i.e., discussing the exam answers acts as a steam valve. so i try not simply dismiss them as obnoxious gunners when i overhear it. your way of coping may be to carry on and not look back, but another person’s way may be to analyze what they did until they feel comfortable enough with it to be able to put it past them.
they’re both valid.
Like I said, this is totally just a personal preference of mine. I recognize that some people legitimately want to talk about the exam for reasons such as the ones you mentioned, so I guess I should clarify my point. I don’t want to talk about the exam afterwards, which is fine. It usually stresses me out and makes me nitpick and is generally not productive. If other people want to have nice private conversations about it, go for it. What I really dislike is when people make a big show out of their post-exam discussions, screeching about how horrible it was or high-fiving about picking the right standard of review or something. I also don’t like it when people who I may or may not know well ask me how I think I did. To me, there’s no point in speculating because I never know how I did, and I’ve learned that how I feel about an exam is a very poor predictor of what my grade will be.
Anyway, in sum, the way I feel is go ahead and converse if that’s what tickles your fancy, but a) don’t be obnoxious and obvious about it and b) don’t be nosy about it out of courtesy for people who really get bothered by those types of conversations.
i agree. there’s a distinction between posturing and needing to express anxiety. people who loudly proclaim their COMPLETE AND UTTER DOMINANCE!!! of an exam, and then want to illustrate it by restating each answer to a friend, deserve no mercy.
the cosmic irony of it all is that very few people can actually gauge their test scores by their feelings, due to the curve. so the obnoxious riff raff who wander around congratulating themselves probably don’t end up doing nearly as well as they initially believed.
(1) People who sit in the exam room for the ten or fifteen minutes before the exam and talk about how much they didn’t study, how screwed they are, how late they were up studying and/or outlining, pointing out their failure to outline…you get my point
(2) Snapping or popping your gum..which I am painfully guilty of when I get nervous.
(3) unnecessary pounding on your keyboard..as in typing really loud when you get frustrated or hitting the enter key/spacebar too hard.
Oh, and ladies, can you go ahead and remove the Lee Press Ons (or more professional and expensive versions of faux fingernails) before finals? The clicking on the keyboard drives me nuts.
Emily, I love hearing other people complain about being screwed. It reminds me that I’m not alone!
I have to come out and publicly support the proctor yelling rule. Last semester, the proctors yelled over and over again that we are “supposed” to have our bags and cell phones at the front of the room 20 minutes early. That’s not an actual rule, right?
Not that I know of, Steve. I generally really like the random older people that show up to proctor/do crossword puzzles, but some of the law school support staff are downright rude. There was already an issue that went down before one of my finals that was really kind of disturbing this semester, and I don’t care to see it again.
Steve, you are never alone. BLB will forever have your back and I can promise you that for every gunner feigning hedonistic study habits you can guarantee that there are at least ten others in the room that are, in fact, genuinely screwed. Look around, Steve. They are there. Don’t turn away from the light….you are not alone