Your exam is not worth pulling the fire alarm over
There is no time of year where students are more neurotic, frustrated, and just absolutely miserable to be around than exam season. Along with energy drink sales, one thing that seems to skyrocket...
View ArticleFire knocks out the heat at York
York University is without heat after a fire damaged steam boilers at the school’s Keele campus. The building was evacuated, and students and non-essential staff in the rest of the university were sent...
View ArticleExam season got you down?
It’s that time of year again when across the country students are packing into gymnasiums and lecture halls to write their finals. Preparing for exams can be stressful, but if you plan it right, there...
View ArticleStressed by exams? Pet a dog
To help students decompress during hectic study sessions, Tufts University has been bringing in therapy dogs. On Tuesday, “students set down their books, laptops and e-readers for a chance to pet,...
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Promiscuity on campus
When I was studying for my Evolution exam last week, I noticed something strange in the textbook: it referred to female prairie dogs as “promiscuous.” Seriously. Apparently, by mating with multiple...
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All I want for Christmas
5) Free textbooks It just seems wrong to pay hundreds of dollars for a bunch of books that you’ll want to throw into a bonfire by the end of the semester. And why is my Organic Chemistry textbook...
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Post exam anxiety? You’re not alone.
My last exam was almost a week ago, on December 15th, but my Christmas vacation hasn’t even started yet. When I found out that all five of my exams were in a row, right at the beginning of exam period,...
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Anti-studying: the more you read, the less you know
When I was studying for exams a little over a week ago, Christmas break seemed impossibly far away. Normally, the more I study for an upcoming exam, the better I feel. As I read over my notes and...
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Still waiting for final marks?
Between worrying about my marks and catching up on my sleep, more than a third of my Christmas break has managed to disappear without any warning. The problem is, I haven’t been doing any of the stuff...
View ArticleNew semester’s resolution
Right now is the time of year when I look back and think about all the stupid mistakes I made during first semester. Like not keeping up with the textbook readings in Developmental Biology and falling...
View ArticleWhen your course holds you hostage
When I finished Organic Chemistry in my second year, I thought I would never have to see chemistry again. I knew I would be taking Biochemistry the following semester, but I deluded myself into...
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I almost failed. Twice.
When I finished my exams last semester, I was convinced that I had failed two of them. Not just one, but two. It wasn’t the usual post-exam anxiety, where you kick yourself for changing an answer at...
View ArticleRelieving test stress
Students suffering from exam anxiety may now have a remedy. Researchers at the University of Chicago found that if students spend 10 minutes writing about their worries before the test, their scores...
View Article‘Learning styles’ are bogus
Every semester I tell myself that I’ll study more. And every semester I don’t. Somewhere between vowing to study every single day and the act of actually doing it, there’s an interruption. All the...
View ArticleDidn’t pay the fee? No grades for you!
A professor at the University of Saskatchewan is threatening to withhold his student’s grades if they refuse to pay an additional fee for copyright course materials, according to campus newspaper The...
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The best kind of exam
When a course doesn’t have a final exam, there’s usually some sort of a drawback. Like a gigantic, time-consuming term project that requires lots of research and a half-hour presentation. Meaning, the...
View ArticleEverything you learned suddenly doesn’t matter
I’m finally done all my exams. There are more than four months of summer vacation between me and next semester. It seems strange that all of a sudden, the material that used to seem so critically...
View ArticleA+ in procrastination
A few weeks ago, when my anatomy and physiology exams were looming on the horizon, I wasn’t able to procrastinate properly. With several more chapters of my textbook to review, I felt too guilty to do...
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Student has heart attack during exam
Photo courtesy of rileyroxx on Flickr Jairaj Chandran, 18, was 10 minutes into his high school theology exam in Cambridge, U.K. when he felt his chest getting tight and he started to having trouble...
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Tornado prevents exam on natural disasters
Photo courtesy of PhotoJunkie! on Flickr Zak Ashley, a 19-year-old University of Windsor student, missed his exam on natural disasters due, ironically, to the tornado that tore through Goderich, Ont....
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Surviving exam season
Photo courtesy of comedy_nose on Flickr Exams, assignments and anxiety: for university students, the end of classes in December is just the beginning. Fortunately, there are ways to make it through...
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Weird ways Canadians are coping with exams
Studying at Waterloo. By Colin O'Connor We all know exams cause stress. That explains the reaction of this student in a noisy library at California State University, Northridge. Personally, I’m with...
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In defense of the good old-fashioned exam
Photo by Patrik Axelsson on Flickr I love almost everything about being a professor. Teaching, research—I even look forward to department meetings. But I hate grading exams. And just as I become a...
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The best exam tip you’ll ever get
Photo by Mark Sebastian on Flickr April? Already?! If you’re a student, that means you’ll soon be juggling exams, essays and final projects—and you may find yourself asking questions like this: Should...
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7 ways to cope with exam stress
Photo by yuko_ppp2501 on Flickr 7. Pet a puppy Pets reduce stress and there may be a furry friend closer than you think. Therapeutic Paws of Canada brings therapy dogs to stressed out students at the...
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5 ways your prof knows you’re failing
Photo by rileyroxx on Flickr I didn’t set out to make a study of student exam-room behaviour, but by my estimation, I’ve invigilated well over a hundred exams in my career and, after a while, you start...
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Quebec protesters block classes, exams
Photo by yanik_crepeau on Flickr In Quebec, where many students have boycotted classes for months, attempts by universities to hold classes and exams are being severely tested. More than 160 protesters...
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McGill exams disrupted by fire alarm
Photo by Shermeee on Flickr Two hours into his three-hour economics exam on Monday, third-year McGill University student Nico Ahn’s concentration was broken by a blaring fire alarm. He and hundreds of...
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Chinese students hooked up to IVs
Photo from 163.com An official in China has confirmed that a controversial photo of high school students hooked up to intravenous drips is real, reports China Daily. The photo, taken at a school in...
View ArticleCoach suspended after players skip ceremony to study
A hockey coach in Newfoundland was suspended for a year and his team was fined $2,000 after he allowed players to skip a tournament’s opening ceremonies to study for their university exams. Brian...
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Is this the best exam question ever?
avlxyz/Flickr Stories of bizarre exams are favourites among university students and professors alike. As far as I can tell, most of them are urban legends, but they are fun, nevertheless. There’s the...
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Not ready for final exams? Read this.
D Sharon Pruitt/Flickr Distinctions among university students appear starkly at exam time. You can see who has been following along and who has been sleeping through class, who has been doing the...
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Santa’s exam season gift: resilience
Helga Weber/Flickr ‘Tis the season to be harried! Realizing that not all of you will celebrate Christmas, I still thought we’d poke a little fun at the holiday season. In doing so, I’m going to give...
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Legally Blonde, exam stress & Mexican Barbie
Legally Blonde 1. Legally Blonde, the film starring Reese Withersoon as a California girl who conquers Harvard Law School, is now officially a classic. Most of today’s undergraduates would have been...
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The awkward truth about excuse notes
Joe Houghton/Flickr I met Anna Drake, a University of Waterloo assistant professor, at recent event in Toronto and asked: what are professors talking about these days? She said they’re discussing how...
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5 people to avoid sitting beside during finals
Shutterstock Entering an exam room can be intimidating. Where in this sea of chairs and desks would prove the best for productivity? Which seat will yield the best exam results? One of the most...
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Ryerson chemistry exam included answers
Shutterstock First-year chemistry students at Ryerson University must have been screaming inside when they realized the test handed out in the exam room included answers for 20 of the 50 questions....
View ArticleBrock’s solution to exam stress: puppies, naps & massages
Social media accounts at Brock University were abuzz last month with Tweets and posts about the puppy room, the nap room, the free massages and many other popular events that were part of the first...
View ArticleCalgary students defer finals after tragedy
CALGARY – One thousand students have elected to defer their final exams at the University of Calgary in the wake of the death of five young people at a Calgary house party. The party was being held to...
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How to ace multiple choice tests
Photograph by Cole Garside We all know that the best way to ace any exam is to study and attend class. But, there are also some tips and techniques that can help you succeed at a tricky multiple...
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