1) do not overstudy or cram in a lot of practice the day or night before the test...
   you really can't learn anything new the night before a test...     you *can* reinforce what you already know with practice...
   don't spend more than 1-1.5 hours studying physics the day before a PHYSICS test

2) get to sleep early (midnight or before)... the longer you stay up, the worse you'll do on the test... i guarantee it

if the test is early in the morning, make sure
a) that you are up and walking around at least 1 hour and 15 minutes before the test
    (I guarantee of loss of 1 point for every minute you stay in bed after that)
b) get at least 5 minutes of exercise early (walk/run up and down the stairs a few times or take a few quick turns around your building   
    outside)... it will get your blood flowing ... to your brain!
c) have a good breakfast
d) have at least 3 intelligent conversations before the test (it also gets your brain working)

3) come to the test relaxed... don't forget your calculator and pencils (i have neither spare calculators nor pencils)...

come 7 minutes early if you can... 
 i generally let post-lunch periods or 8 am classes start 5 min early and let pre-lunch periods slop over 5 min into lunch......
  
being late to settle in just means you have a few minutes less than everyone else...in general,  test will use the who lab period time limit of exactly 1.5 hours, except for the first test which is only 50 minutes

4) there will most likely be a lab portion of the test (not only this time, but always) where you have to go to the lab and measure something that  you then use in a problem... we have only a few lab set-ups, so try to get into the lab as soon as possible and thus not get caught in a last-minute crunch... you may be expected to run software used in a previous lab

5) all formulas we've been using [with the exceptions of the definitions (for example, displacement, average and instantaneous velocity, acceleration) which surely you know] will be on the front page of the  test... this includes trig formulas and the quadratic formula

6) if you get stuck on a part, skip it and go on to the next... if the next  part requires the answer to the previous part, you have three options:
   a) leave the unknown answer just as a letter and finish the problem as usual
   b) make up a number for that part and use it from then on (write me a note  that you are making a number up)
   c) come and ask my advice as to what to do

7) be aware of the time (adults wear watches)... dont get bogged down in a problem and then not be able to finish the test
    the MOST COMMON mistake by far that students make on the first test is is not finishing because they spend too much time
    on one problem and dont leave themselves time for the others

8) as on homework and lab, units, diagrams, def of +, appropriate sig figs are all expected; their absence results in loss of points... order and  logic are also expected, as is not plugging in numbers until you have  solved for the unknown algebraically first

one more thing about units... most all of you are now really great about making sure that your numbers have them...but most of you are not really checking that the units work out (or else i wouldnt have so many people forgetting the square in  0.5 a t^2, because people would be noticing that  the units arent working)  ACTUALLY CHECK THE UNITS TO SEE THAT THEY WORK

9) honesty.... we have talked about it in class.... you cant share ANY  information about the test with anybody who hasnt taken it....
   not content, not answers, not how many questions, not whether you finished or didnt, not whether it was easy or hard,
   NOT ANYTHING

10) it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to imagine someone leaving a test early; check over your work;
    think of different ways to do a problem to check on your answers; make sure that your answers are reasonable...
    write me a note if you know the answer cant be correct

   you wouldnt believe how many students left last year's 1st test early instead of going through and nailng down explanations for
   everything (including graphs, with calculations of slope if, for example, a slope is asked for);   
   and of course these very same people complained after the test about how they didnt think i was serious about explanations and
   documenting how one  arrived at answers

ok, enough advice.... you've probably heard it all before

don't print this (unless you own your own printer ! and paper !!)

happy practicing!