General Information about Item:

• Superstition
• Language: English
• Origin: Dartmouth Skiway
• Informant: Katie Bogart
• Date Collected: February 25, 2018

Informant Data:

• The informant is from Sundridge Ontario, she is a Dartmouth Sophomore currently living part time in Westchester New York. Katie is an avid member of Dartmouth’s Outdoor Clubs including a ski patroller for the Dartmouth Ski way and a whitewater kayaking leader.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: The informant went to school in Westchester New York where she achieved excellent grades in school. The informant has done a large amount of research into successful test taking strategies and has found that by having a phone in your backpack while taking a test leads to distraction.
• Cultural Context: While preparing for these exams, the informant always accredited her family with having numerous traditions before tests. While most people typically have one one pretest tradition, Katie has three that have stuck with her throughout college. She believes that this is linked to her numerous family traditions

Item:

• The informant starts study for a test with a certain pencil and whatever pencil she uses to study, she brings to the exam. She believes that because she used a particular pencil to study with, the pencil will help her remember what she studied. Second, before the test begins, the informant listens to the same song, she has been doing this for three years straight. Lastly, the informant never brings her back pack to any of her tests.

Informant’s Comments:

• Instead of having just a single superstition, I have to do all of these things to do well on a test. A test becomes a whole day experience for me.

Collector’s Comments:

• Many people require more than one superstition to do well on an exam.

Collector’s Name: Matt Moniz

Tags/Keywords:

• Superstition
• Pencil
• Song
• Backpack
• Test